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Super Giants thump JSK en route to final

cricket08 February 2024 20:05| © MWP
By:Brendon Atwell
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The Durban Super Giants put in a clinical performance to thump the Joburg Super Kings by 69 runs in the second Betway SA20 Qualifier at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Thursday evening.

The Super Giants posted a formidable 211 for six thanks to man-of-the-match Heinrich Klaasen (74) and Wiaan Mulder (50 not out) after Faf du Plessis had won the toss and asked Keshav Maharaj’s men to bat first.

In reply, The Super Kings were bowled out for 142 in 17.4 overs thanks to Junior Dala’s 4-38 in 3.4 overs.

Having chased 203 just a few days ago against the self-same Super Giants at the same ground, Du Plessis’s men never got out of the starting blocks.

Du Plessis himself top-edged Naveen-ul-Haq (4-0-27-2) to Quinton de Kock behind the stumps for just three while his opening partner, Leus du Plooy, fell for 10, driving Reece Topley (3-0-24-1) straight to Naveen at mid-off.

With the prolific opening pair back in the hut, Sibonelo Makhanya feathered a ball from Wiaan Mulder (3-0-16-1) through to De Kock behind the stumps to leave the Super Kings on 32 for three.

A 54-run stand for the fourth wicket between Reeze Hendricks (27) and Moeen Ali (30) from 45 balls, seemed to stem the tide but Dwaine Pretorius (2-0-17-2) saw to it that the Super Kings’ revival was short-lived, having Hendricks caught at fine leg by Klaasen and then bowling Ali off an inside edge.

Donovan Ferreira struck some lusty blows before pulling Naveen to Klaasen on the square-leg boundary for 24.

Dala (3.4-0-38-4), who conceded 33 runs off his first two overs, claimed his four wickets in 10 balls for just five runs as he had Doug Bracewell (23) and Sam Cook (0) caught and bowled, Dayyaam Galiem (1) caught by Naveem, and ending the match by bowling Nandre Burger for just a single.

KLAASEN AND MULDER GO HARD

Earlier, the mammoth total was set up by a brilliant 101-run stand for the fifth wicket from only 38 balls between Klaasen and Mulder.

Klaasen started slowly but found his mojo against Imran Tahir (3-0-45-0) with the legspinner’s third over going for 29 runs as Klaasen began smashing sixes left, right and centre.

The right-handed blaster struck seven maximums in all, along with three boundaries before being caught on the long-on fence by Bracewell from the bowling of Burger (4-0-2-27) for a brilliant 74 from only 30 deliveries.

Mulder was also aggressive, striking three sixes and three fours from only 23 deliveries to end unbeaten on 50, reaching his half-century off the final ball of the innings with a quick-run double after edging the ball along the ground to keeper Ferreira.

The Super Giants began the innings more cautiously than they did against the Paarl Royals on Wednesday with Matthew Breetzke (12) and De Kock (23) adding 35 for the first wicket from 24 deliveries.

De Kock, despite striking five boundaries, found most of them fortuitously through edges.

Cook (4-0-58-1), who claimed four wickets against the Royals, found life tough the second time around but made the initial breakthrough, trapping Breetzke in front.

De Kock was next to go, clean-bowled by Burger after being beaten on numerous occasions.

Jon-Jon Smuts struck two fours before edging Galiem (4-0-38-1) to Ferreira behind the stumps while Sri Lankan Bhanuka Rajapaksa struck six boundaries from 23 balls for his 35 before flicking Bracewell (4-0-33-2) down towards Burger at fine-leg.

Then Mulder joined Klaasen at the crease and the pair began building.

The fact that the first six of the innings was only struck in the 15th over, meant the Super Kings blasted 106 in the final six overs, despite Burger’s final over – the penultimate of the innings – going for only six runs, including the wicket of Klaasen, who now becomes the leading six-striker in the tournament this season.

The Super Giants now head back to Cape Town to take on the defending champions, the Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the final of the SA20, a repeat of the first Qualifier which the Sunrisers clinched by 51 runs on Tuesday.

DURBAN SUPER GIANTS: Matthew Breetzke, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Quinton de Kock (wk), JJ Smuts, Heinrich Klaasen, Wiaan Mulder, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj (capt), Junior Dala, Naveen-ul-Haq, Reece Topley.

JOBURG SUPER KINGS: Faf du Plessis (capt), Leus du Plooy, Reeza Hendricks, Sibonelo Makhanya, Moeen Ali, Donovan Ferreira (wk), Doug Bracewell, Dayyaan Galiem, Sam Cook, Nandre Burger, Imran Tahir.

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