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COLISEUM WANDERERS GEARS UP FOR JUKSKEI BETWAY SA20 DERBY

16 Jan 20253 mins

Faf du Plessis expects the Wanderers to be a cacophony of noise when the Joburg Super Kings meet rivals Pretoria Capitals in the Jukskei derby on Thursday night.

The Bullring is one the iconic stadiums in the world, having staged the 2003 ICC World Cup final, 2007 T20 World Cup final and the 2023 Betway SA20 final.

There are precious few venues that are able to generate the electric-like atmosphere that the Wanderers can, and Du Plessis is hoping his Super Kings can feed off that energy.

“It's always a great occasion when you go back home and you're playing the guys from just across the river, hoping that everyone will come and support us,” Du Plessis said.

“I feel like Wanderers is the loudest stadium in South Africa, so when there's a lot of people, you can feel the noise.

With Pretoria Capitals having lost Anrich Nortje to injury, Faf du Plessis can only be pleased to have Gerald Coetzee fully-fit for Joburg Super Kings.

“It feels like everyone is on top of you, almost like a coliseum where the Warriors come out and play, so it's a great place when there's a lot of people.”

The Super Kings are the only unbeaten team remaining in the competition with two victories from two outings.

They will come up against a Capitals team that are full of confidence after opening their account with a victory over defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

The Capitals played with plenty of intent as they managed to claim a bonus point win.

The visitors will, however, have to put the disappointment of having ace fast bowler Anrich Nortje ruled out of the competition with a back injury behind them. Nortje also missed last season with a similar stress fracture.

The Season 1 runners-up have shown they have plenty of backup options ready to charge in at the Bullring with Migael Pretorius, Eathan Bosch and Daryn Dupavillon delivering a seam bowling masterclass at Centurion.

The trio claimed six wickets between them and will be eager for a repeat performance at the Wanderers.

“We felt that we didn’t hit the stumps enough, so a lot of our conversation this week was just trying to get the ball on top of the stumps,” said Dupavillon.

“Eathan makes it easy when he comes out and bowls like that. It served us in good stead.”

HOW TO WATCH

The first ball of Thursday's encounter is scheduled to be bowled at 17:30 (SAST), with viewers around the world able to watch it on the following broadcasters (click map for more information):

For live updates and stats from the match, you can visit the Match Centre.

DID YOU KNOW?

This will be the fourth SA20 meeting between Joburg Super Kings and Pretoria Capitals. JSK are 2-1 up in the rivalry, having won both their home Jukskei Derbies to date, while Capitals did the same in the inaugural season before last year's clash was abandoned after 4.4 overs due to rain.

Interestingly, all of the wins in this fixture have come by margins of '6' - JSK won by runs runs at home in 2023 and Capitals by 6 wickets... which was also JSK's margin of victory in last year's clash at Wanderers (rewatch the highlights below).