Quinton de Kock’s return to form and a disciplined bowling performance led our boys to a commanding 57-run victory against Paarl Royals at Boland Park on Friday.
Choosing to set the tone by batting first, we faced some early setbacks but Quinton de Kock (83* off 51 balls), JJ Smuts (52 off 39) and Heinrich Klaasen (30* off 9) smashed the Paarl Royals bowlers to post a massive 190/3 on a slowish surface.
Our bowlers then brought their A-game, restricting the Royals to a mere 133/10 in 19.2 overs. With their score falling below 80% of our total, we not only secured a resounding victory but also bagged a valuable bonus point for good measure, which propelled us to the top of the SA20 2024 standings.
We now have 23 points from seven matches while Paarl Royals, who were at the top before the game, find themselves second with 22 points from seven matches.
QDK, Smuts and Klaasen light up Boland Park!
Openers Matthew Breetzke and Tony de Zorzi were out early and at 24/2 in four overs, we did not have the best of starts. However, de Kock and Smuts flipped the script with a 118-run partnership for the third wicket.
Smuts made a statement of intent with three consecutive boundaries in the fifth over. QDK bided his time at the other end before announcing his return to form in the last 10 overs.
By the 10th over, our score read 69/2. While a total of 160 seemed likely with 103/2 in 14 overs, our batters scored 87 runs in the final six overs to take the total to 190.
QDK, who took 30 balls to reach 31 runs, exploded in the 15th over, smashing Andile Phehlukwayo for two sixes and two fours, securing his fifty with a maximum over long on.
Smuts also brought up his fifty with a boundary in the 17th over but perished in the next while trying to up the ante further.
QDK pounced on Obed McCoy, smashing him for a 4,6,4 to end the 19th over. Klaasen then lined up Lungi Ngidi, the highest wicket-taker of SA20 2024 before the match, in the final over to end the innings with a boundary and three colossal maximums.
Bowlers put the Royals in shackles
Jos Buttler and Jason Roy got the Royals off to a decent start with 32/0 in three overs. Smuts provided a crucial breakthrough by cleaning up Roy in the fourth over.
Marcus Stoinis, who has so far had a wonderful tournament with the ball, removed Wihan Lubbe in the final over of the powerplay to keep the Royals to 46/2 in six overs.
The required run rate kept climbing up and a wicket-maiden bowled by Noor Ahmed in the ninth further strengthened our grip on the contest. Keshav Maharaj also followed up Noor Ahmed’s brilliance with the ball with an equally impressive spell and removed the dangerous Jos Buttler in the 12th over.
Naveen-ul-Haq, Stoinis and Reece Topley then kept the Royals in check to ensure we travel back to Kingsmead with a bonus point in the bag.
What next for the Super Giants?
We’ll be heading back home and preparing for round two against Paarl Royals at Kingsmead on Sunday.
Brief Scores: Durban’s Super Giants 190/3 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 83*; Bjorn Fortuin 1/32) beat Paarl Royals 133/10 in 19.2 overs (Jos Buttler 45; Marcus Stoinis 3/24) by 57 runs.
