SA20: Ottneil Baartman's hat-trick fires Paarl Royals into playoffs and top spot

Ottneil Baartman of Paarl Royals celebrates the wicket of Andre Russell of Pretoria Capitals during match 25 of the Betway SA20 season 4 between Pretoria Capitals (PC) and Paarl Royals (PR) held at the Supersport Park Stadium in Centurion , South Africa on the 15th January 2026. (Photo credit: Arjun Singh / Sportzpics for SA20)

Ottneil Baartman delivered a seam-bowling masterclass, claiming a magnificent hat-trick as part of a brilliant five-wicket haul to drive Paarl Royals into the SA20 playoffs at a sold-out Centurion on Thursday evening. Baartman became just the second bowler in SA20 history to claim a hat-trick, after Pretoria Capitals seamer Lungi Ngidi achieved the feat just last week against Durban’s Super Giants at Kingsmead. His victims were Andre Russell, Lizaad Williams and Ngidi. He had earlier taken two wickets with successive deliveries when he clean-bowled Connor Esterhuizen and trapped Jordan Cox plumb in front. It allowed the 32-year-old to move past his former Sunrisers Eastern Cape teammate Marco Jansen as the leading wicket-taker in the league’s history with 57 wickets.

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Baartman’s 5/16 helped rout the Capitals for just 127, which enabled the batters to comfortably chase down the target with six wickets and 4.1 overs to spare. The win earned an invaluable bonus point that propelled the Royals to the top of the Betway SA20 standings with 21 points.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! The Royals now join Sunrisers Eastern Cape as the two teams to have already secured playoff berths. It was no coincidence that the first Royals teammate to congratulate Baartman on his hat-trick was Sikandar Raza. The Zimbabwean international was again at the heart of the action, following up his batting heroics a couple of nights ago with another excellent spell of spin bowling. The veteran picked up the crucial wickets of Dewald Brevis and Shai Hope to finish with figures of 2/29. Raza now sits just below Baartman on the competition’s top wicket-takers list with 13 dismissals. The Royals’ run chase suffered a couple of early stutters, with openers Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Asa Tribe dismissed cheaply by an inspired Lizaad Williams (2/28). However, Rubin Hermann (46 off 28 balls, five fours, three sixes) and Dan Lawrence (41 off 32 balls, three fours, two sixes) added 52 runs for the third wicket to steady the innings before captain David Miller guided his side home with an unbeaten 28. The Royals are now primed to finish in the top two positions that will earn them a place in Qualifier 1, with two round-robin matches remaining against Durban’s Super Giants at Kingsmead on Saturday and Joburg Super Kings at Boland Park on Monday.

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The Capitals, meanwhile, have one match remaining against Joburg Super Kings at the Wanderers on Saturday and will be hoping for maximum points to ensure progression to the playoffs for the first time since Season 1. Centurion will next host the Eliminator on Thursday, 22 January, after successfully selling out all five matches hosted this season at the Capitals’ home ground.Brief Scores Pretoria Capitals: 127 all out in 19.1 overs (Sherfane Rutherford 29; Ottneil Baartman 5/16) Paarl Royals: 128 for 4 in 15.1 overs (Rubin Hermann 46, Dan Lawrence 41, David Miller 28 not out; Lizaad Williams 2/28)

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