Pretoria Capitals have jumped on the player-signing bandwagon from Australia as soon as the league stage of the Big Bash League (BBL) concluded on Sunday, January 19. The Capitals have signed up the Australia and Perth Scorchers duo of Ashton Tuner and Jason Behrendorff replacing Liam Livingstone and Evin Lewis for the remaining half of the SA20 2025.
Capitals, who have been left a bit handicapped by multiple injuries have had two of their lead pacers Anrich Nortje and Wayne Parnell not take part in the tournament with the former getting ruled out of the competition. Windies opener Lewis was ruled out of the competition due to an injury before the start while Livingstone left the competition midway to be in India with the England national squad. If that wasn't enough, the star of the only win for the Capitals in the ongoing season, Daryn Dupavilon was ruled out due to another injury.
The Capitals had signed Gideon Peters and Matthew Boast as the local replacements earlier before the overseas players were signed as soon as they became available following the BBL 14 league stage. The Scorchers failed to qualify for the top four this time around and hence the Capitals jumped on the first available opportunity to cover their bases.
However, the only vacant spot for a Behrendorff to come in would be for Jimmy Neesham with Will Smeed locking in his spot at No 3 following the other overseas imports, Will Jacks and Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
Capitals haven't had their tournament going so far. They have had a win with the bonus point, but that is their only victory in the season so far. A couple of matches have been washed out for the Capitals and they have lost a couple. With five matches remaining, the Capitals are still very much in the race to make it to the top four but need their middle order and support bowling to come to the fore.