2024 SA20: Donovan Ferreira's Lightning Half-Century Powers Joburg Super Kings to Victory

Donovan Ferreira scored the fastest half-century in SA20 League history to power the Joburg Super Kings to a six-wicket win over the Pretoria Capitals at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Saturday night.

Ferreira hit a 20-ball 56 - his half-century coming off 18 balls - to give the Super Kings their first win of the tournament after a rather disappointing start to the campaign.

With the match in the balance, Ferreira and England's Moeen Ali (25 off 21) shared a 77-run stand off just 34 balls for the fifth wicket to get the Johannesburg side over the line with two overs to spare.

However, this victory was set up by the Super Kings' bowling unit, who were absolutely devastating upfront after the Capitals won the toss and bizarrely chose to bat first on a pitch that looked really good for batting.

Proteas bowlers Nandre Burger and Lizaad Williams ripped the heart out of the Capitals' batting line with properly quick fast bowling, hitting the perfect lengths on a bouncy Wanderers surface.

The Super Kings reduced the Capitals to 67/6 with only Kyle Verreynne (72 not out off 52 balls) - making his first appearance of the season - putting up a fight.

Verreynne and the tail-enders helped the Capitals get to 167/9, the last four wickets adding 100 runs to give the bowlers something to defend.

In the end, though, Ferreira was too good on the day, smashing a couple of big hits alongside Ali to give the home crowd something to cheer for a change.

Ferreira, who hasn’t quite come off yet in the tournament, says staying still and focused at the crease was the big difference in his batting effort against the Capitals on Saturday night.

"I'm quite relieved we got over the line after the first two games. To do it in front of the home crowd when we needed it was something special,” said the big hitting Ferreira.

“I just tried to stand still. I have quick hands, fortunately for me. Moeen and I said if we’re still there at the end we should chase the score easily.”

Super Kings captain Faf du Plessis was a relieved man after the match, and hopes the result will spark their season.

"Our team needed the win. I thought we were much better today. The bowlers were excellent and the fielding was unbelievable. Those are the small things that you try and get right," said Du Plessis.

"This game is 90 percent confidence. There is still a lot of areas we have to work on, but we will draw a lot of confidence from the win at our home venue."
 

Super Kings bowlers blow away Capitals with opening burst

The Capitals were on the back foot from the start of the match after losing their star openers Will Jacks and Phil Salt early in their innings.

One or both of the Englishmen normally provides that momentum and platform for the other Capitals batsmen to have a go in the middle and death overs. But both were back in the pavilion by the end of the third over with the score on 28/2, as Burger and Williams struck big blows.

Two overs later the Capitals had sunk to 38/4 after losing big-hitting left handers Rilee Rossouw and Colin Ingram, before David Wiese and Jimmy Neesham also perished.

Super Kings seamers Burger (2/30), Williams (3/26) and Romario Shepherd (3/39) claimed eight Capitals wickets between them.

"After the previous game we spoke about not just sitting back and waiting for things to happen. We need to throw that first punch and that changed it for us," Du Plessis said.

"The Capitals rely on those two openers (Salt and Jacks), they are such brilliant players in the way they attack the power play. We need to get them early."
 

Kyle Verreynne’s positive approach helps Super Kings

Verreynne, who replaced Theunis de Bruyn at number three for the match, came in with a positive intent, hitting a few shots, but also having a bit of luck, as the ball definitely did something at the start of the innings.

The Proteas Test wicket-keeper rolled with the punches and a few contributions from the tail helped to help the team post something respectable.

Capitals captain Wayne Parnell praised his team for their effort to get to a competitive score after a horrible start.

"I still think at the back end we got something that was defendable. In terms of how Ferreira struck the ball at the back and Moeen Ali’s experience of taking it deep was probably the difference on the night," said Parnell.

Leus and Makhanya set the platform for Ferreira fireworks

The biggest problem for the Super Kings has been their starts, with former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis and current white-ball opener Reeza Hendricks struggling to get going thus far.

It was again the case against the Capitals, as both players were dismissed cheaply by the part-time spin of Jacks (2/26), the Super Kings struggling at 16/2.

But another man making his first appearance of the tournament, Sibonelo Makhanya (40) and left-hander Leus du Plooy (33) steadied the ship with an impressive partnership of 70.

Both players took their chances, but had to be cautious against the leg-spin of Adile Rashid (1/21), who was again on money with his bowling.

"With the bat there was a bit of a stutter upfront and the changeroom had some nervous bodies, but there was a great partnership just to settle the nerves," said Du Plessis.