Durban – Sunday saw Durban’s Super Giants produce a dominant performance to claim a second Betway SA20 victory, this time over the Paarl Royals in front of another passionate crowd at Kingsmead Stadium.
It was a third brisk start in a row from Durban’s Super Giants with Kyle Mayers teaming up with Wiaan Mulder at the top of the order. The pair combined to put on 62 for the first wicket in just under seven overs.
Mayers was the first wicket to fall when he got to 39 off 23 balls before he was caught by Jos Buttler off the bowling of Evan Jones which saw Quinton de Kock walk to the wicket at three – a position that he hasn’t occupied much in his T20 career.
Despite coming in at first wicket down, De Kock notched up his third half century of the competition when he put together a quick-fire 57 off 31 deliveries with five fours and four sixes. His knock took him to the top of the run scorers table with 146 runs in his three innings.
De Kock was dismissed after Mulder fell for a fluent 42. The free-flowing left-hander was caught by Jones off the bowling of Lungi Ngidi with the score on 151 in the fifteenth over of the innings.
Heinrich Klaasen came to the crease just prior to the dismissal of De Kock and the middle-order star continued with the momentum as he struck the Royals bowlers to all parts of Kingsmead as the crowd got behind their side.
Keemo Paul’s innings was short lived after his heroics from Cape Town. The West Indian made seven, however his contribution was to support Klaasen who was teeing off at the other end.
Klaasen’s 50 not out came off just 19 deliveries as he struck six sixes and just a single four in his knock.
Ultimately it was Klaasen and Dwaine Pretorius who finished the innings for the hosts with Klaasen finishing on 50 and Pretorius ended on seven not out.
The 216 for four that the Super Giants ended on is the highest score of the Betway SA20 so far and the Royals needed to score at over ten runs to the over to win.
It was a strong start with the ball from the home side as Reece Topley picked up the big wicket of Jos Buttler for two in the third over.
With the score on 55 the Super Giants picked up their second wicket when Wihan Lubbe was caught by Jason Holder off the bowling of Pretorius in the seventh over of the chase.
Pretorius then also sent Royals captain Dave Miller back to the change room for a single and the Royals were 57 for three in the seventh over and then Jason Roy was dismissed six runs later for 33; bowled by Prenelan Subrayen.
The partnership between Eoin Morgan and Dane Vilas gave the home side and the home fans a few anxious moments as they combined to put on 114 for the fifth wicket.
With the required run rate at over 18 runs per over the pressure told as Simon Hamer and Mulder combined to run out Morgan for 64.
Vilas’ 44 came to an end when the match was gone and ultimately the Royals finished on 189 for eight in their 20 overs – 27 runs short of the target.
Heinrich Klaasen was announced as the player of the match for his innings defining 50 off 19 balls and the Proteas star feels he’s getting a good feel of the conditions at Kingsmead.
“Over the past two or three seasons I have been playing more cricket here, so I am starting to get a feel for how to play here,” Klaasen said.
“Playing more here has also helped me find the right way for me to play my game in these conditions and I’m glad what I did today because it gives me confidence and a blue print to work from.”
The Super Giants will now face the Royals again in two days’ time when they head to Paarl and Klaasen is eager to make it two from two.
“I think conditions will be similar there, but the field is probably a bit bigger and I’m glad we got the win here at home.
“That means that there is less pressure on us to win there but hopefully we can go back-to-back but this win has given us a lot of confidence,” Klaasen added.
Sunday’s clash saw Durban’s Super Giants host a number of Cell C Sharks stars including influential Springbok captain Siya Kolisi along with Springbok prop Ox Nche and Sharks lock Hyron Andrews.
SUMMARY OF SCORE:
Durban’s Super Giants 216/4 (Q de Kock 57 H Klaasen 50 W Mulder 42 K Mayers 39)
Paarl Royals 189/8 (E Morgan 64 D Vilas 44 R Topley 3/34)
Durban’s Super Giants won by 27 runs
