JSK run out of No. 8 wire, but Fleming will be back

"See you next year," Stephen Fleming told reporters on his way out of a press conference in Centurion on Wednesday (February 5) night. Minutes earlier, Joburg Super Kings, the team Fleming coaches in the SA20, had been eliminated from the running for a place in this year's final.

The decider will be played at the Wanderers on Saturday, and will feature Mumbai Indians Cape Town and the winners of Thursday's second qualifier between Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Paarl Royals at Centurion.

Fleming has been at JSK's helm since the inaugural tournament in 2023. The Joburgers have qualified for the playoff rounds all three times. But they have yet to reach the final, much less win the trophy.

Given that reality, and the fact that Johannesburg is South Africa's biggest and most capitalistically competitive city, Fleming's confidence that he would be back with JSK in 2026 seems presumptuous.

But that would be to view the SA20 as a tournament in its own right without ties to others; as distinct, for instance, as the English Premier League is from other football competitions. That's not the case in T20 franchise cricket.

All six SA20 sides are owned by franchises of the behemoth IPL. The SA20 has been a resounding success, but – like every other tournament of its kind in the world – it remains in the Indian mothership's shadow. That's a reason for Fleming's solid belief that he will keep his job.

He has been Chennai Super Kings' head coach since 2009, and has thus presided over all five of their IPL championships and both of their triumphs in the now defunct Champions League T20.

Fleming also coaches CSK's other satellite, Major League Cricket's Texas Super Kings. They have finished third in the standings in both editions of the tournament, and have yet to win it.

But, as long as Fleming proves himself capable of guiding CSK to IPL glory – as he did as recently as 2023 – he is not going to be replaced. Especially by an organisation that values consistency: CSK have been captained by MS Dhoni in 235 of the 240 IPL games they have yet played.

"We've come close. But close is not good enough for this franchise."

This time, injuries wiped out Joburg's first-choice attack. Nandre Burger and Lizaad Williams were gone before anyone had bowled a ball. Beuran Hendricks never got onto the park. Gerald Coetzee lasted one game and David Wiese four. Donovan Ferreira sustained a side strain while heaving hard during his 51 off 22 against Durban's Super Giants in JSK's last league match at the Wanderers on Saturday.

JSK lost that rain-affected game by 11 runs. They also suffered a washout in their match against Pretoria Capitals. DSG and Pretoria propped up the standings. Had the Joburgers won both of those games, their campaign would have unfolded significantly differently.

"You have to unravel our season and put it in perspective," Fleming said. "We were hanging on. There was a bit of No. 8 wire and a lot of glue with the amount of injuries we had."

"We had holes during each game where we weren't able to be as accurate as we needed to be," Fleming said. "I won't say I'm proud, but I'm satisfied with how we hung together in what's been a pretty tough season. You don't envisage the amount of change we've had. In the squads that we had before, we haven't been decimated like this."

Faf du Plessis, Leus du Plooy, Sibonelo Makhanya and Ferreira have been part of all three JSK squads.