Durban - Another impressive half century from Heinrich Klaasen was not enough for Durban's Super Giants as they fell to a ten-run defeat at the hands of the Paarl Royals in the Betway SA20 on Tuesday.
Klaasen made 56 not out from 39 balls as he tried to pull his team over the line at Boland Park, however four wickets from seamer Evan Jones helped the hosts avenge their defeat at the hands of the Super Giants on Sunday.
The home side were put into bat on their own wicket and it was Hardus Viljoen who produced the first piece of magic for the Super Giants when he dismissed Englishman Jason Roy for three with the score on 13.
53 runs later and the Super Giants struck again when Keshav Maharaj and Quinton de Kock teamed up to dismiss Jos Buttler, stumped for 35 off 27 balls.
Wihan Lubbe was the glue that kept the Royals innings together and he struck a fluent 57 off 36 balls which included five fours and three sixes. He was the fourth wicket to fall after Dane Vilas was caught by De Kock off Prenelan Subrayen's bowling.
Lubbe was bowled by Englishman Reece Topley at the end of the sixteenth over of the innings.
Royals hero from the return fixture Eoin Morgan made two before he was caught off the bowling of Dwaine Pretorius and then it was Pretorius again who struck when he had Royals captain Dave Miller caught in the deep for 28.
The wickets were shared amongst the Super Giants bowlers with all bar Kyle Mayers picking up a wicket in their spell. Pretorius was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/35 from his four overs.
For the first time in the competition the Super Giants didn't get off to a blistering start as they lost Mayers for twelve, De Kock two balls later for a duck and then Pretorius the next delivery without scoring.
DSG were 29 for three inside the powerplay and had a lot of work to do to get themselves into a position where they could launch and assault at the total.
Eighteen runs later Wiaan Mulder lost his wicket, caught in the deep by Vilas off the bowling of Tabrais Shamsi for 29.
Jason Holder made 17 before becoming Jones's first victim as Heinrich Klaasen began to score freely at the other end.
Jones then picked up the wickets of Christiaan Jonker for 12, Keshav Maharaj for 17 and then Hardus Viljoen for a duck to leave the Super Giants 135 for eight in the eighteenth over of the chase.
Ultimately Klaasen and Prenelan Subrayen couldn't get the 19 runs needed off the final over as they fell ten runs short of the target.
The Super Giants took the match into the final over but for Dwaine Pretorius believes the damage was done earlier.
"In a tight game like that you can pick a lot of points where things might not have gone your way but losing three wickets in the powerplay is not a great start," Pretorius said.
"Klaasie (Heinrich Klaasen) showed his class again today and we bat really deep so we managed to get close and one or two sixes here or there and we would have finished smiling.
"Unfortunately, it didn't go our way today but it's still early in the competition, we're only at match four, so hopefully we can bounce back strongly."
Focusing on the conditions, Pretorius feels that the Super Giants squad is set up to play well in all conditions.
"The wickets are playing better than they usually do domestically, so we aren't quite sure what to expect from every venue at the moment.
"So, to have a few different bowling options really helps and an experienced guy like Jason (Holder) didn't even bowl today.
"That's what makes our team quite dangerous at the moment. You can't really set up for one specific plan with us," he added.
SUMMARY OF SCORE:
Paarl Royals 169/6 (W Lubbe 57 J Buttler 35)
Durban’s Super Giants (H Klaasen 56* E Jones 4/32 B Fortuin 3/14)
Paarl Royals win by ten runs
Durban's Super Giants are back home on Friday when they host the Pretoria Capitals at Kingsmead Stadium. Tickets are available at www.ticketpros.co.za
