The first semi-final of the inaugural season of SA20 will be played between Pretoria Capitals and Paarl Royals in Johannesburg today. In no respite to the players of both teams, they will be facing one another for the second time in as many days.
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For the unversed, albeit in Centurion, it is worth a mention that the last league match of the tournament was also played between these two teams as recent as yesterday. A major respite, however, is the comparatively shorter distance that players had to cover between the two cities on a match day.
Best team in the league stage, Capitals, won seven and lost three out of their 10 league matches. As compared to their opponent’s first position on the points table, Royals finished at the fourth position on the back of four wins and five losses in the league stage.
While the first match between these two teams had been won by Paarl, Pretoria emerged as the triumphant side last night on the back of successfully defending a 227-run target.
The Wanderers Stadium weather forecast
As was the case at the SuperSport Park on Tuesday, even The Wanderers Stadium is expected to receive some rainfall on Wednesday. Therefore, it would be quite a heist if these teams get lucky on back-to-back days with respect to the climatic conditions.
According to weather portal AccuWeather, there’s a 75% rain probability around the start time of the match, i.e., 05:30 PM (local time). Although the number will reduce by more than half in the subsequent hours, a 51% rain probability at 10 PM appears to be a concern, at least on paper.
In what is going to be the first SA20 knockout match, all the stakeholders will be desperate for a bare minimum of a rain-curtailed match as no one would want for proceedings to move to the Reserve Day, i.e., February 9 (tomorrow).
Hourly weather today in Johannesburg
05:00 PM – 20 degree (Rain Probability – 49%).
06:00 PM – 19 degree (Rain Probability – 75%).
07:00 PM – 18 degree (Rain Probability – 40%).
08:00 PM – 18 degree (Rain Probability – 34%).
09:00 PM – 17 degree (Rain Probability – 40%).
10:00 PM – 17 degree (Rain Probability – 51%).
