A historic bowling performance from Ottneil Baartman helped set the Paarl Royals up for an impressive bonus-point six-wicket win over the Pretoria Capitals in their Betway SA20 clash at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday night.
Baartman became just the second ever bowler in SA20 to pick up a hat-trick, after Lungi Ngidi achieved the feat earlier in the current tournament, and it was almost poetic that the Royals pace spearhead managed it by dismissing the Capitals' strike bowler.
In the end Baartman finished with terrific figures of 5-16 off four overs, which was the key reason that the Capitals were dismissed for a well below-par 127 all out batting first.
💥 𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐍𝐈𝐄𝐋 𝐁𝐀𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐍 💥
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) January 15, 2026
◼️ Five wickets
◼️ Second #BetwaySA20 hat-trick in history
◼️ Leading tournament wicket-taker
Class is permanent🤌#SSCricket pic.twitter.com/s3VnHmFYar
The Royals' batting effort was then led by the in-form Rubin Hermann, as he crunched three sixes and five fours in his 29-ball 46, while Dan Lawrence, 41 off 32 balls (3x4; 2x6), and captain David Miller, 28* off 16 (5x4), assisted him in getting their side over the line with 29 balls to spare.
The Royals' chase got off to a poor start as Lizaad Williams made things interesting with two early strikes, trapping Lhuan-dre Pretorius (1) LBW at the start of the second over, and having Asa Tribe (5) caught by Jordan Cox in the fourth, reducing the visitors to 17-2.
But that brought Lawrence in to join Hermann, and they stabilised the chase with a 52-run partnership off 33 balls to set the platform for their team.
Hermann was the aggressor during the stand, and just as he was kicking things up a gear, having hit Gideon Peters for two sixes in the ninth over, he went for one big shot too many and skied the ball to Dewald Brevis in the deep, leaving them on 69-3.
Miller was next in and along with Lawrence they broke the back of the chase with a 57-run stand off 36 balls, and by the time Lawrence was bowled by Ngidi in the 15th over, the game was won with just two needed, with Sikander Raza (2no) knocking them over the line and into the playoffs.
#BetwaySA20 Playoffs qualification sealed for the fourth straight season 🫡#WelcomeToIncredible pic.twitter.com/lnUCAMKzaw
— Betway SA20 (@SA20_League) January 15, 2026
BAARTMAN ON FIRE
At the start of play the Capitals won the toss and chose to bat, but couldn’t back up their decision as they struggled immensely throughout their innings, with Sherfane Rutherford top scoring with 29 off 20 balls (1x4; 3x6), while Shai Hope battled to 25 off 34 (1x6) and Brevis, 21 off 20 (2x6), also struggled to get going.
The Pretoria side got off to a solid enough start thanks to 30 runs coming off the first three overs, which included 10 wides coming off Hardus Viljoen’s second after two leg-side wides ran away for four.
But the introduction of Baartman in the fourth over started the slide as he clipped the top of Connor Esterhuizen’s (8) middle stump and trapped Cox LBW for a first- ball duck as the hosts slipped to 30-2.
By the end of the powerplay the Royals were struggling on 40-2, and in the next over Bjorn Fortuin had Wihan Lubbe (9) chipping to Hermann at cover as they were reduced to 43-3.
Hope and Brevis then shared in a 32-run stand, before the Proteas T20 star was bowled by Raza, before Rutherford joined his former West Indian teammate and added 33 to the total.
Raza then had Hope caught by Tribe, before the Zimbabwean turned catcher as Viljoen accounted for Rutherford as the Capitals tumbled to 110-6 in the 17th over.
A hattrick to flip the script and the Switch Game Changer. 📉#BetwaySA20 #PCvPR #WelcomeToIncredible pic.twitter.com/wHMntJjY4B
— Betway SA20 (@SA20_League) January 15, 2026
The 18th over belonged to Baartman as he started it by having Andre Russell, 15 off 11 (2x6) caught by Raza at long on, before Williams chopped on, and Ngidi popped a return catch to the bowler, to write his name into history with the second ever SA20 hat-trick.
Viljoen finished things off at the start of the final over, as Keshav Maharaj (1) skied him to Miller to close out a superb bowling performance, as Viljoen (2-17) and Raza (2-29) backed up Baartman.
PRETORIA CAPITALS: Connor Esterhuizen, Shai Hope (wk), Jordan Cox, Wihan Lubbe, Dewald Brevis, Sherfaine Rutherford, Andre Russell, Keshav Maharaj (capt), Lizaad Williams, Lungi Ngidi, Gideon Peters
PAARL ROYALS: Lhuan-dre Pretorius (wk), Asa Tribe, Rubin Hermann, Dan Lawrence, David Miller (capt), Sikander Raza, Delano Potgieter, Hardus Viljoen, Waqar Salamkheil, Bjorn Fortuin, Ottneil Baartman