It’s official - Super Giants are in the SA20 2024 final!
Heinrich Klaasen, ably supported by Wiaan Mulder, led the way for us with the bat in Qualifier 2 against Joburg Super Kings on Thursday while Junior Dala scalped four wickets with the ball to seal the deal.
Put into bat first by JSK, we lost Matthew Breetzke when the scoreboard read 35. Thereon, we kept losing wickets at regular intervals before Bhanuka Rajapaksa provided some resistance. When he fell for a 23-ball 35, we were at 95/4.
But Klaasen and Mulder stepped up when we needed them the most, adding 101 runs for the fourth wicket.
Klaasen, who has been in spectacular form in this tournament, was at it again in this crucial encounter. His 30-ball 74 was laced with seven maximums and three hits to the boundary. Mulder, at the other end, whacked the opposition bowlers all over the park.
Mulder scored his 50 in just 23 balls with three sixes and as many boundaries and took us to a formidable total of 211 in the stipulated 20 overs.
With a handy total to defend, our bowlers were on target right from the beginning. After Naveen-ul-Haq found an edge to dismiss JSK captain Faf du Plessis for three, Reece Topley got rid of Leus du Plooy and Mulder sent Sibonelo Makhanya back to the dugout. The Joburg Super Kings were reduced to 32 for 3.
We looked firmly in control of the game but Moeen Ali and Reeza Hendricks, momentarily, threatened to take the game away from us.
As the partnership deepened, Dwaine Pretorius was brought into the attack. The decision paid off as Moeen Ali chased a wide one and dragged the ball onto his middle stump.
It ended the 54-run partnership and put us back in the driver’s seat, with JSK tottering at 86/4.
In his next over Pretorius got rid of Reeza for 24 to bring us closer to the final.
However, Joburg Super Kings wicketkeeper Donovan Ferreira had arrived with clear intentions. With three boundaries and a six, he had already raced to 24 in 12 balls and looked threatening. After a six off Naveen-ul-Haq, Ferreira played one straight to Klaasen while trying to dispatch a full-toss.
Junior Dala, bowling his third over, picked up Dayyaan Galiem and Sam Cook in successive balls.
Dala then picked up two wickets in his last over to bowl out JSK for 142 and punched our ticket to the final of SA20 2024.
For his quickfire 74 and holding on to three catches, Klaasen was chosen as the player of the match.
What next for Super Giants?
We will play Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SA20 2024 final on Saturday.
Brief Scores: Durban’s Super Giants 211/6 in 20 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 74; Wiaan Mulder 50*, Bhanuka Rajapaksa 35; Nandre Burger 2/27, Doug Bracewell 2/33) beat Joburg Super Kings 142/10 in 17.4 overs (Moeen Ali 30, Reeza Hendricks 27; Junior Dala 4/38, Naveen-ul-Haq 2/27, Dwaine Pretorius 2/17) by 69 runs.
