Ottneil Baartman’s Hat Trick Leads Paarl Royals To SA20 Playoffs With Win Over Pretoria Capitals
Ottneil Baartman claimed a marvellous hat-trick as part of his five-wicket haul in a seam-bowling masterclass as Paarl Royals beat Pretoria Capitals by six wickets to book a playoffs berth in SA20.
Ottneil Baartman claimed a marvellous hat-trick as part of his five-wicket haul in a seam-bowling masterclass as Paarl Royals beat Pretoria Capitals by six wickets to book a playoffs berth in SA20. Baartman became just the second bowler in SA20 history to grab a hat-trick after Pretoria Capitals seamer Lungi Ngidi achieved the feat just last week against Durban's Super Giants at Kingsmead. Baartman's victims were Andre Russell, Lizaad Williams and Ngidi. He had earlier claimed two wickets with successive deliveries when he clean-bowled Connor Esterhuizen and trapped Jordan Cox plumb in front.
It allowed the 32-year-old to move past his former Sunrisers Eastern Cape teammate Marco Jansen as the leading bowler in the league's history with 57 wickets.
Baartman's 5/16 helped the Royals bowl the Capitals out for just 127 in 19.1 overs.
Royals batters then comfortably chased down the target with 4.5 overs to spare, reaching 128 for 4 in 15.1 overs. It was sufficient to earn the invaluable bonus point that propelled the Royals to top of the SA20 standings with 21 points.
Royals now join Sunrisers Eastern Cape as the second team to secure playoff berth.
Royals' run-chase suffered a couple of early stutters with openers Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Asa Tribe being dismissed cheaply by an inspired Lizaad Williams (2/28), but Rubin Hermann (46 off 28 balls, 5x4, 3x6) and Dan Lawrence (41 off 32 balls, 3x4, 2x6) put together a 52-run partnership for the third wicket to steady the ship before captain David Miller guided his team home with an unbeaten 28.
Royals are now primed to finish in the top two positions that will earn them a spot in Qualifier 1 as they still have two round-robin matches remaining against Durban's Super Giants at Kingsmead on Saturday and Joburg Super Kings at Boland Park on Monday.
The Capitals, meanwhile, have just one more match remaining against Joburg Super Kings at the Wanderers on Saturday and will be hoping for maximum points to ensure their progression to the playoffs for the first time since Season 1.
Centurion will next host the Eliminator on January 22 after successfully selling out all five matches hosted this season at the Capitals' home ground.
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