Durban Super Giants won their second game of the season on Sunday, defeating Paarl Royals by 27 runs in a high-scoring game at Kingsmead (January 15). Quinton de Kock hit a 31-ball 57 before Henrich Klaasen hit a 19-ball 50 to help the Super Giants reach 216/4. The Royals lost early wickets in the chase, but a 114-run stand off 61 deliveries between Eoin Morgan (64 off 37) and Dane Vilas (44 off 30) gave them hope before falling short with 189/8.
Choosing to bat, the Durban Super Giants openers got their team off to a fast start, scoring 62 runs on the powerplay. Kyle Mayers batted for 23 balls and hit six fours and a maximum before being dismissed by Evan Jones for a 23-ball 39. Another fruitful collaboration followed, with Wiaan Mulder and Quinton de Kock scoring 85 points off 49 deliveries. De Kock scored the majority of the runs, scoring 5 fours and 4 sixes on his way to a 27-ball fifty. Mulder was content to let De Kock have the majority of the strike before both fell in consecutive overs, leaving the Super Giants at 151/3 in the 15th.
Klaasen then took over, hitting sixes in the 16th and 17th innings off Bjorn Fortuin and Ferisco Adams, respectively. In the penultimate over, Dwaine Pretorius also hit a maximum off Lungi Ngidi, before Klaasen hit four maximums off Adams, including a six off the final ball, to bring up a blistering half-century as the Super Giants posted a commanding total of 64 off the final five overs.
In the second over, Jason Roy hit a six and a four off Keshav Maharaj, but the Paarl Royals suffered a setback when Jos Buttler was bowled by Reece Topley while attempting to heave one across the line. Wihan Lubbe and Roy hit consecutive home runs to push the Royals’ lead to 55/1 at the end of the powerplay. However, the Royals were quickly undone when Pretorius had Lubbe and David Miller caught by Jason Holder at long-on, while Roy was bowled by Prenelan Subrayen, leaving the chasing side at 63/4 after 8 overs.
Eoin Morgan led the counterattack, hitting two sixes in an over off Pretorius and two fours off Topley, who also took a difficult return catch. Dane Vilas also got in on the act, hitting two fours off Holder as the Royals’ fifth wicket pair gave them some hope, though the required rate had risen above 16 by the 14th over. Morgan went on to score fifty off 27 balls, hitting two sixes before taking a single off Mulder in the 15th over.
Despite bowling three wides, Pretorius only gave up 10 runs in the 16th over, but Vilas kept the fight going by hitting two sixes and a four off Holder, who went for 18 in the 17th over to finish with 0 for 49. Morgan hit a six off Mulder and was caught by the bowler in the 18th over, but his stay was cut short by a runout. Topley then dismissed Jones and Vilas for just seven runs to effectively seal the game for the Super Giants. Mulder gave up only five runs in the final over and also took Adams’ wicket as the Paarl Royals suffered their second defeat.
Let’s have a look at the scorecard of this match!
