Batting fails again as Super Kings succumb without a fight to Sunrisers

Victory two nights earlier against MI Cape Town created the impression that the Joburg Super Kings had turned a corner in this season’s SA20. However, Wednesday’s capitulation against the Sunrisers Eastern Cape suggests Faf du Plessis’ team remain frozen to the spot.

They will lose fourth place on the log — the last play-off position — should Pretoria Capitals beat MI Cape Town in Centurion on Thursday. And while a win in their last home match on Saturday against the Durban Super Giants could still see them sneak into knockout stages, JSK’s form at the Wanderers has been so dreadful that even the tournament’s sponsor would refuse to offer odds on a win for them. 

Wednesday’s was their third defeat out of four matches at the Bullring. It was delivered with a batting performance that was comfortably the worst of the season. JSK were bowled out for 78, their innings not even reaching the second strategic time out. 

Yet they entered the game having blitzed MI Cape Town in a rain-shortened match on Monday, where skipper Faf du Plessis felt he had finally found form after scoring an unbeaten 50. In a prematch preview for Wednesday’s clash, Du Plessis mentioned that the elbow surgery he underwent late last year had left him feeling out of sync coming into this season’s tournament.

“I’m a big rhythm player. So, with the [elbow] operation the first few games I felt almost like a diesel engine that’s taking a bit of time to kick in. It’s probably only two days before the [Pretoria Capitals] game that I started feeling a little bit better, started having better nets and then you just need time in the middle and almost to hit one ball in the middle of the bat and then get the feeling of ‘there it is, it hasn’t really gone anywhere’.”

Well on Wednesday “it” wasn’t at the Wanderers. Du Plessis lasted four balls before edging Englishman Dan Worrall into the gloves of wicketkeeper Tristan Stubbs. 

A wretched tournament for Reeza Hendricks continued. He has made just one half-century, and was out first ball on Wednesday, to Worrall edging to first slip. 

The poor returns from those two veteran players, who were so crucial to JSK’s late run last season, that saw them earn a semifinal spot, has been the primary reason for the horror show that 2024 has become. 

Bar Leus du Plooy, their highest run-scorer this season, the Joburg batting line-up has been absent without leave for the majority of the competition. Du Plooy scored 18 on Wednesday, the second-highest score for the hosts, with Wayne Madsen’s 34, the best. 

Otherwise, the JSK innings featured three ducks and three other batters who scored just a single. The highlights came from the defending champions; Beyers Swanepoel produced a superb delivery to dismiss Du Plooy and claim his first wicket of the tournament, with one that angled into the left-hander then found the outside edge, while Stubbs’ Superman-impression to dismiss Moeen Ali was arguably the best catch by a keeper in this season’s competition.

Worrall finished with 3/20, while Patrick Kruger claimed 3/8 in two overs.

The Sunrisers duly knocked off the target in 11 overs, for the loss of just one wicket, earning themselves a bonus point and securing a play-off berth in the process.