Some power hitting from Leus du Plooy and an all-round bowling performance rescued the Joburg Super Kings and led them to vital 44-run Betway SA20 win over the Paarl Royals to see them sneak into the competition playoffs, at the Boland Stadium in Paarl on Monday night.
It was the final pool match of the tournament and both teams still had plenty of skin in the game, with the fifth-placed Super Kings needing to win to lift themselves above Durban’s Super Giants and into the knockouts, while the Royals needed to win to finish in the top two.
In the end it was a brave performance from the Super Kings, who had to bounce back from some poor form and having lost a number of key players to injury, as they downed the home team to become the final team in the playoffs, while knocking out the Super Giants.
In the match, the Super Kings won the toss and chose to bat, and Du Plooy seemed to be batting on a different wicket, as he plundered three sixes and five fours in his unbeaten 27-ball 54, which got his side above the par score on what is usually a tricky scoring ground.
Debutant Neil Timmers, 39 off 37 (4x4), Michael Pepper, 27 off 23 (3x4; 1x6), and Matthew de Villiers, 27 off 23 (1x4), also chipped in, but all struggled to score at a high enough scoring rate, and it took Du Plooy’s intervention to give their bowlers to a defendable score of 166/5.
The Royals however suffered a blow during the first innings when their captain, David Miller, was injured in the field and with him unable to bat, it took a key member out of their batting line-up, while the Proteas will also be nervously waiting to see how serious it is, with the T20 World Cup coming up.
The Royals' chase never really got off the ground, thanks to regular wickets falling throughout their innings, which meant they never really got close.
Dan Lawrence top-scored with a solid 45 off 29 balls (1x4; 3x6), but when he became the seventh wicket to fall in the 17th over with their score on 113, bowled by Akeal Hossein, it effectively ended any chance they may have had of making a late play.
Opener Lhuna-dre Pretorius got off to a good start, with 32 off 25 (4x4), but fell at a crucial stage, and Rubin Hermann (14) was the only other Royals batter to get into double figures, showing their struggles as they ended 122 all out.
On the Super Kings bowling front, Prenelan Subrayen was the pick of the lot, with 3-14, backed up well by veteran Imran Tahir, 2-17, while Nandre Burger, 2-29, Hossein, 1-31, and Wiaan Mulder, 1-29, all chipped in as well.
At the start of the match, the Super Kings' innings got off to the worst possible start, as skipper James Vince was bowled by Bjorn Fortuin in the first over to leave them on 1 for one.
That brought Pepper in to join Timmers and they tried to build their side's innings, taking them to 39 for one at the end of the powerplay and 50 fpr one at the start of the eighth over.
But Pepper was clearly getting frustrated with the slow scoring rate, and having hit Waqar Salamkheil for a six a few balls earlier, he was then second to fall after trying to drive on the up, only for Lawrence to hold onto a super catch with the score 50 for two.
Timmers and De Villiers took the Super Kings to the halfway mark of the innings on 67 for two, but in the next over, the 21-year-old youngster was trapped LBW by Sikander Raza as they slipped to 74 for three.
De Villiers and Du Plooy then combined for a 45-run stand to get their side past 100, but when De Villiers fell in the 17th over, caught at long off by Asa Tribe off the bowling of Salamkheil, the Super Kings were struggling on 120 for four by the end of the over.
But Du Plooy unleashed in the final three overs, as 12 came off the 18th bowled by Nqobani Mokoena, although he did bowl Mulder (8) with a slower ball beauty at the end of it.
The 19th from Salamkheil was definitely the game changer, as Du Plooy launched two sixes and a four at the start of it, and Dian Forrester (7no), hammered his first ball for six at the end of it, with 23 coming off it, before Du Plooy added another 11 off Ottneil Baatman’s final over.
With the playoffs now lined up, the top-of-the-table Sunrisers Eastern Cape will take on the second-placed Pretoria Capitals in the first qualifier at Kingsmead in Durban on Wednesday.
The third-placed Royals and fourth-placed Super Kings will collide in the eliminator at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday.
The loser of qualifier one and winner of the eliminator will meet in the second qualifier at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Friday, followed by the winner of that game taking on the winner of qualifier one in the final at Newlands in Cape Town on Sunday.
PAARL ROYALS: Lhuan-dre Pretorius (wk), Asa Tribe, Rubin Hermann, Daniel Lawrence, David Miller (capt), Sikandar Raza, Delano Potgieter, Bjorn Fortuin, Nqobani Mokoena, Waqar Salamkheil, Ottneil Baartman
JOBURG SUPER KINGS: James Vince (capt), Matthew de Villiers, Leus du Plooy, Michael Pepper (wk), Dian Forrester, Wiaan Mulder, Neil Timmers, Akeal Hosein, Prenelan Subrayen, Nandre Burger, Imran Tahir