Coastal teams take top spots in second week of SA20

The coastal sides made their move during the second week of the SA20 competition as the Paarl Rocks, Durban’s Super Giants (DSG) and Sunrisers Eastern Cape all settled into the top half of the table.

Although Paarl is slightly inland, they can be considered a coastal side, and they look to be the form team of the competition so far thanks to four wins against one loss, which sees them top of the log on 18 points, five ahead of DSG in second on 13 and the Sunrisers in third on 10.

However, it was the Sunrisers who won both their games over the past week, while the Rocks won two and lost one and DSG won one while losing two.

But all three sides are well placed and in a strong position to go on and seal a spot in the competition playoffs.

There were a number of outstanding performances from various players during the week, with some helping their respective sides to good wins while others were in vain.

In the match between DSG and Joburg Super Kings (JSK) in Durban, Heinrich Klaasen’s 64 off 41 balls and Reece Topley’s 3-19 helped their side to a 37-run win, while Lizaad Williams picked up 4-26 for his side in a losing cause.

In the Sunrisers' thrilling four-run win over Mumbai Indians Cape Town (MI CT) at Newlands, Jordan Hermann lit up the game with the second century of the tournament as he carried his bat to score 106 off 62 balls, while Ottneil Baartman backed him up with 3-35 to seal the win, while Ryan Rickelton hit another half century, this time in vain.

The Royals picked up a comfortable seven-wicket win over JSK in Paarl thanks to Lungi Ngidi’s 3-17 helping limit the visitors followed by Jos Buttler knocking 70 off 37 to ease his team home.

The Pretoria Capitals got their first win of the competition in a high-scoring 17-run win over DSG in Centurion, with Englishman Will Jacks the star of the show, scoring the quickest century in SA20 history, after smashing 101 off 42 balls, while Topley picked up 3-34 for the visitors in a losing cause.

In the first game of a Western Cape double header, MI CT clinched an impressive eight-wicket win over the Rocks thanks to 3-20 with the ball from Thomas Kaber, followed by Rickelton’s 94 off 52 balls powering them to the win.

The Sunrisers were made to work hard for a five-wicket win over DSG in Durban at Kingsmead, after Wiaan Mulder top-scored for the hosts with 52 off 29 balls, but Simon Harmer starred for the visitors, claiming 4-18, followed by Tristan Stubbs slamming his team home with an unbeaten 66 off 37 balls.

JSK finally got their season up and running with a six-wicket win over their Jukskei rivals the Capitals at the Wanderers, with Williams picking up 3-26 and Romario Shepherd 3-39 to help restrict the visitors despite Kyle Verreynne’s 72 off 52 balls, while Donovan Ferreira was brutal for the hosts in the chase, smashing 56 off just 20 balls to power them home.

The second Western Cape derby saw the Royals get their revenge in Paarl with a thumping 59-run win over MI CT, as Jason Roy’s 69 off 46 and Buttler’s 54 off 42 helped them set a stiff target, followed by Bjorn Fortuin taking 3-15 to help bowl the visitors out cheaply.

Some thrilling games are now set for the third week of action in the SA20 and by the end of it, the table should reflect which teams will most likely make the playoffs and which will be missing out this time around.