Pretoria Capitals must have been quite pleased with their total against Paarl Royals on Saturday. Will Smeed (54 off 34 balls), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (42 off 29 balls), Kyle Verreynne (45 off 23 balls) and James Neesham (28 off 13 balls) had all made a key contribution as they put together 212/5 at Centurion.
As the chase began, find of the SA20 so far, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, was dismissed first ball by Will Jacks.
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But all their hopes of four points, or perhaps a bonus point, were shot down by the experienced head of Joe Root.
Root scored an impressive 92 not out off 60 balls, guiding the Royals to victory with just two balls remaining. His innings was a blend of precise placement, timing, and creativity, proving that T20 cricket can be about more than just brute force. He struck 11 well-timed boundaries and two sixes.
Rubin Hermann made a remarkable debut for the Royals, scoring a dazzling 56 off 33 balls (5 fours, 3 sixes) and partnered with Root for an explosive 125-run partnership off just 69 deliveries.
This set the stage for Royals captain David Miller, who, alongside Root, added another unbroken 88 runs in just 48 balls to secure the crucial four points.
“Yeah, you can’t take class away from someone. He’s one of the best players, in my opinion, ever. He’s right up there. With that kind of class, he can adapt in so many different situations and that’s how we see him,” said Miller in appreciation of Player of the Match Joe Root.
“Being such a leader, he steadies the ship really well in our conditions back at home. We’re just loving the way that he’s playing and started.
“Today was just phenomenal. Just really good cricket shots, straight drives, cover drives, pulls. Everyone thinks bashing in T20. He’s come in there and played a very elegant 80-odd match winning inning. So it’s really pleasing to see him in the space that he is at and I’m just so happy for him doing really well in the T20 format,” he added.
Smeed admitted he and the rest of the team believed they had enough on the scoreboard to defend. The difference, in the end, was former England Test skipper Joe Root.
“I think we probably thought we were about par. We knew that the ball obviously flies here and it was a really good wicket and they’ve got a really strong batting line-up. So yeah we probably thought we were about par and then the difference was probably the way Root batted through. I’d say that was the difference between the two sides,” said Smeed.
