Shai Hope’s maiden T20 ton leads Pretoria Capitals to victory:SA20 team wins by 15 runs against Durban; Ngidi records tournament’s first hat-trick

In the SA20 T20 League match played at Kingsmead stadium on Wednesday, Pretoria Capitals defeated Durban Super Giants by 15 runs. Thanks to Shai Hope’s century and Lungi Ngidi’s hat-trick, Durban was restricted to 186 runs while chasing a target of 202. Shai Hope scored his first T20 career century After winning the toss and opting to bowl first against the Durban Super Giants, Pretoria Capitals scored 201 runs for 4 wickets in 20 overs. Openers Shai Hope and Connor Esterhuizen stitched a 101-run partnership for the first wicket. Esterhuizen scored 37 runs off 28 balls, while West Indies wicketkeeper-batsman Shai Hope scored his first T20 career century. Hope remained unbeaten on 118 runs off 69 balls. His innings included 9 fours and 9 sixes. This is the highest individual score in the SA20 league so far. SA20 tournament records its first ‘retired out’ Hope then added 85 runs with Roston Chase. Chase was strategically ‘retired out’ to accelerate in the final overs. This was the first time in the history of the SA20 league that a batsman was retired out. Also Read: Australia claim fourth consecutive Ashes series at home: Usman Khawaja receives ‘Guard of Honour’ on his last int’l game Jos Buttler’s lone fightback with falling wickets on other end While chasing a target of 202 runs, Durban had a poor start. The team had lost 3 wickets for 90 runs in 10 overs. Marques Ackerman​​​​​​​ (27), Kane Williamson (12) and Aiden Markram (16) got out after good starts. England’s Jos Buttler came in at number 3 and held one end, scoring an unbeaten 97 runs off 52 balls. He slammed 9 fours and 5 sixes, but could not find any substantial partnership from the other end. Lungi Ngidi’s historic hat-trick In the 18th over, Lungi Ngidi took the first hat-trick of SA20 by dismissing David Wiese, Sunil Narine, and Gerald Coetzee on three consecutive deliveries. This virtually ended Durban’s hopes of victory. Ultimately, the team was all out for 186 runs. Buttler returned unbeaten on 97 runs and missed out on his ton.