The inaugural season of the SA20 comes to a close on Saturday when The Wanderers stages the first ever final which will see the Pretoria Capitals going up against the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to be the maiden champions of the event.
Pretoria Capitals topped the table and won their semi-final to book their place in this title clash in style. Sunrisers finished third in the regular season but upset the Joburg Super Kings for their chance at lifting the trophy.
Pretoria Capitals
The Pretoria Capitals have been the team of the tournament so far but they will know that doesn’t account for winning the competition so they will hope they have saved one more strong performance for this final. Generally when they have played well they have won matches and they have looked a very good side all season long. They have been on top of the table throughout the campaign and now they get the chance they deserve to win the tournament.
The big reason why the Capitals are in this final is because their bowling attack has been the best in the tournament. Nearly their entire first choice bowling attack are into double figures for wickets for the campaign, which when you consider they played their home matches at SuperSport Park is no mean effort. They probably aren’t quite the spectacular batting side that they were earlier in the competition but they still have more than enough to get the job done.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape
When you consider they were the bookmakers outsiders for this tournament this season, the Sunrisers Eastern Cape have done excellently just to be in this final but they won’t be here to make up the numbers and will feel they can get the job done now that they are here. It goes without saying they will need the best of the three efforts they will have produced against the Pretoria Capitals because they were well beaten in both regular season meetings.
There have just been signs that the batting of the Eastern Cape has started to come together. One thing which will certainly help that is the improved form of the captain Aiden Markram whose century propelled the Sunrisers into this final. They have bowled well on tough tracks all season long and with the Johannesburg wickets offering spin and not being the easiest that might give the Eastern Cape the chance they need.
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Key Players
Anrich Nortje is the leading wicket taker in the tournament and if he can bag another 2-3 scalps then the Pretoria Capitals will be well on the way to securing the inaugural title. He might be saved for the middle order here and that battle could be crucial.
Marco Jansen has shown in this tournament that he can clear any boundary with the bat and that could be useful on this ground but if he can get through the opening pair with the new ball he might set the Sunrisers Eastern Cape on their way.
Betting
The Bullring has been something of a bowlers paradise this season and all but one of the five completed matches here have been full of wickets and the one which the rain intervened was heading towards having a few wickets as well with the team batting first four down with five overs to go and needing to step on the gas. I expect that to be a trend which continues here particularly with a bit of cloud cover and weather around.
These two bowling units are probably the best in the competition and this is a final so you would imagine there will be an air of desperation at some stage of the match, whether that is to propel a score at the end of the first innings or give everything at the end of the second innings to chase a score down. Six of the top nine wicket takers in this tournament are in this match and we’ve seen the pitches really get harder for batting the longer the event has gone on. There have been 15 wickets or more in the last three matches at The Wanderers and I think over 12.5 wickets can land again here.
Tips
Back Over 12.5 wickets for a 3/10 stake at 1.75 with Betway
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