Joe Root. Pic Credits: X

SA20 2025 : Joe Root’s All-Round Performance Dethrones Pretoria Capitals

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Led by Joe Root‘s all-round performance (56-ball 78* & 2-32), Paarl Royals secured an 11-run win over Pretoria Capitals and extended their lead at the top of the SA20 points table. Joe Root‘s side-arm off-spin dismissed Will Jacks and James Neesham on Saturday, and has made him the tournament’s joint 12th-highest wicket-taker and puts him in eighth place on the list of economy rates. Not bad for a part-timer.

“Hot Hot Hot…” Arrow’s 1982 soca hit belted around Boland Park more than a few times on Saturday. And well it might have: it was 37 degrees Celsius. In Sheffield on Saturday, it was four degrees Celsius.  As random as those 33 degrees of difference seem, they aren’t. Joe Root, whose 56-ball 78 not out took him to the top of the SA20 run scorers’ list, is among Sheffield’s most favourites sons. Joe Root’s third half-century of the tournament – more than any other player – powered Paarl Royals past Pretoria Capitals by 11 runs.

With that, Paarl became the first team to reach the playoffs. That is nothing new for them. Last year they reached the eliminator, and Joburg Super Kings hammered them by nine wickets with 40 balls remaining. In 2023 Pretoria Capitals won their semifinal against Paarl by 29 runs.

Pitch Report and Toss

Pitch Report : This is a new pitch, hasn’t been used before in the tournament. Very short side boundaries – 54 and 58 square boundaries, 80m straight down the ground. The pitch is so dry and has this very sort of straw color. I’ll be astonished if this doesn’t spin and also if the seamers don’t look to take pace off the ball by cutting it a lot.

The groundsman said to me that 160 batting first might be a competitive score. It’s generally on the slower and lower side. Paarl Royals have become comfortable playing here. Surface looks fabulous but it’s bound to be a bit slow and spin a bit. Batting first, 160 could win it reckons Mark Nicholas.

Toss : Pretoria Capitals skipper Rilee Rossouw won the toss and chose to field with two changes in the playing XI bringing in  spinners Dunith Wellalage and Nqabayomzi Peter for Keith Dudgeon and Eshan Malinga. Paarl Royals skipper David Miller batting first made no changes in the playing XI.

Joe Root’s 78 runs powers Paarl Royals to 140 for 4 in 20 overs

Put in to bat, Royals lost Lhuan Dre-Pretorius for a third-ball duck in the opening over. Rubin Hermann and Mitchell Van Buuren also departed cheaply, but Joe Root struck a few boundaries to keep Royals’ charge going. Joe Root was offered a life by James Neesham when he was batting on 13, and he took good advantage of it. On a surface where run-scoring was difficult, Joe Root continued to expertly use his skill against spin.

Paarl Royals Batting Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo
Paarl Royals Batting Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo

Dunith Wellalage also struggled to get the big hits going, but in the company of Joe Root, added 40 runs in 44 balls for the fourth wicket. It was David Miller’s arrival at the crease which allowed for some late momentum. Four sixes were hit in the last five overs which propelled Royals to 140 for 4 – a match winning total in the end. Root was dropped again in the last over, but that didn’t prove too costly.

Pretoria Captials Bowling Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo
Pretoria Captials Bowling Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo

Joe Root and spinners shines with the ball as Paarl Royals won the match by 11 runs

In the run chase, Will Jacks kept running out of partners, losing three of them within the powerplay. However, in the company of Kyle Verreynne, he steadied the chase with a 77-run stand. But the inability to keep up with the scoring rate meant that they were left chasing 40 runs in the last 20 balls.

Attempts to hit the big shots in the end proved futile as they only lost wickets in the process. Joe Root, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Bjorn Fortuin bagged a brace each, with the latter two along with Wellalage proving especially stingy. Royals used spinners throughout their innings – a first in the history of franchise T20 cricket.

Pretoria Captials Batting Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo
Pretoria Captials Batting Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo

Paarl scored 140/4. Only in Pretoria’s three-run win over Sunrisers Eastern Cape in Centurion exactly a year ago – when the home side made 125 – has a lower total been successfully defended. Doing so took gumption. Like Joe Root showed while bowling the 18th over, when Pretoria needed 33 off 17. Neesham drove hard and straight, and Joe Root threw his 34-year-old body lengthwise across the pitch to smother what would otherwise have been four.

Paarl Royals Bowling Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo
Paarl Royals Bowling Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo

Neesham, trying to target the shorter on-side boundary, charged the next delivery. Joe Root saw him coming, and pitched the ball short. It skidded through to Dinesh Karthik, who had by then conceded four byes twice. But he had his wits about him that time, and the bails were off long before Neesham could regain his ground.

So it will be with heavy hearts that Paarl bid Joe Root farewell after their game against Joburg Super Kings at the Wanderers on Thursday: England expect him in India. Paarl will go to the playoffs without him.

Presentations and Road Ahead

David Miller the winning PR skipper said : Very satisfied with the win. Back half of the tournament, so good to get another win. Guys have done exceptionally well. For me personally I have never seen that (20 overs of spin in an innings) and to be part of this is great.

We did have Galiem as the pace option but luckily we bowled second. It’s about doing the simple things and controlling the controllables. Bowlers stepped up at crucial moments. Just about continuing the good form. We will come again on Monday after refreshing the mental side and cooling the body.

Rilee Rossouw the losing PC skipper said : We were confident in wanting to bowl first. We bowled pretty well but gave away a few runs at the end. We thought 140 was always going to be tough to chase. It’s about execution, the plans are there but the execution is what matters. Suits us in the Highveld. Hard wicket, suits our batters and bowlers.

Joe Root Player of the Match for his all round performance said : Most important thing is to figure out what’s a good score on that surface. (With the ball and release points) Tried to stay as low as I can and try and use the lack of bounce on the pitch. We knew it would play slow. I am enjoying my time here. Obviously want to help them (Royals) keep winning.

The Paarl Royals did not bowl a single ball of pace and bossed this game. Such has been the conditions here, which makes Capitals’s call to bowl first interesting. What’s even more baffling was that they didn’t load their spin battery at all. Just 11 overs of spin and the Royals happily knocked the runs off the pacers. Tactical errors easily costing this game for Capitals you may say. But Joe Root… He just dropped anchor. Rode his luck with the chances but ensured he stayed put at one end and in Miller he found an able partner.

If Joe Root ensured he scored half of the runs, Miller teed off at the end to make 140 possible. The Royals have a gun spin attack and Joe Root is seriously making a case to get up the ladder on the spin rankings in his team. The Capitals lost their way in the powerplay but Jacks played a very matured innings – just nudged around and waited for the bad bal.

Verreynne was held back in hope of some pinch hitting but he proved why he should have been sent earlier. With Jacks he sowed some doubts in the Royals camp but Miller smartly used three overs of Mujeeb at the end to kill all the hope for the Capitals.

Paarl Royals created history on Saturday, January 25, by becoming the first-ever team in franchise cricket to bowl 20 overs of spin. The SA20 side achieved the feat during the seventh league stage match of the ongoing season played against Pretoria Capitals at Boland Park in Paarl.

Bjorn Fortuin, Dunith Wellalage, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Nqabayomzi Peter, and Joe Root bowled four overs each and conceded 20, 16, 17, 33, and 32 runs, respectively, to help the David Miller-led side successfully defend the total of 140 runs and win the match by 11 runs. The sixth win in seven matches played so far has strengthened Paarl’s grip at the top of the league table.

Dayyaan Galiem, who is a fast-bowling all-rounder, was part of Paarl’s playing XI on Saturday, but he was not needed as spinners sealed the deal for the home team. Fortuin, Mujeeb, and Root picked up two wickets each for the table toppers, and one Pretoria batter was sent back to the pavilion by Sri Lankan all-rounder Wellalage.

For his superb show in the match, which also includes a 78-run knock from 56 balls in addition to two wickets, Joe Root won the Player of the Match award. The right-handed English batter has been in red-hot form these days, and with the help of three half-centuries, he has scored 279 runs in seven matches played so far. Root’s total of 279 runs is the most by any player in the ongoing season of SA20.

Paarl Royals will next face Durban Super Giants in their eighth league stage match of the SA20 2025. The match between the two teams is scheduled to take place at Boland Park on Monday, January 27.

Also Read: IND vs ENG: “Side Arm Specialists In India Need To Work Hard To Prepare Batters For Tough Times”- Abhishek Jain Gives His Invaluable Insights

 


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