Lubbe, Vilas lead Royals to five wicket win

A 95-run fourth-wicket partnership between Wihan Lubbe and Dane Vilas helped lead the Paarl Royals to a five-wicket win over the Joburg Super Kings in their SA20 clash at the Wanderers on Wednesday night.

Lubbe struck 57 off 48 balls (3x4, 3x6) and Vilas 42 off 26 (4x4, 1x6) as their stand rescued their side from a tricky position and set them on their way to the win, despite both batters falling in the closing overs.

After the Royals won the toss and chose to field, the Super Kings set them 169 to win, with the visitors' chase getting off to a rocky start as opener Jason Roy popped bowler Lizaad Williams to Kyle Simmonds at mid-on at the start of the third over leaving them on 10 for one.

A big fifth over from Williams, with Jos Buttler (18) hitting a four and six off it, saw 17 from it which allowed the Royals to finish the powerplay on 40 for one.

That became 42 for two in the next as Buttler mistimed a pull off Moeen Ali to send an easy catch to Simmonds at deep midwicket.

The Royals' 50 came up in the eighth over and in the ninth Ali struck again, spinning the ball back in at Mitchell van Buuren (7) to clean bowl him with the visitors in trouble on 55 for three.

This brought Vilas in to join Lubbe and they moved their side to 64 for three at the halfway point of the innings.

A big 11th over saw 16 runs come off Ali, while 14 off the 14th from Simmonds, thanks to a Lubbe six and Vilas four, saw the Royals cross the 100-run mark.

The match was still well in the balance going into the final five overs but a huge 16th over from Williams that cost 21 runs put the Royals in the driving seat as a four and a six from Lubbe and two fours from Vilas moved them to 133 for three.

Ali’s 17th over went for 14 thanks to Lubbe crunching another six, but a fantastic 18th over from Imran Tahir saw just four runs off it and the wicket of Lubbe, caught on the square leg boundary leaving them on 151 for four at the end of it.

Despite Vilas being run out at the end of the 19th over, Fabian Allen crunched two sixes in an unbeaten seven-ball cameo that yielded 17 runs, with him pumping Williams over long-off at the start of the 20th over to end the game in style.

In the Super Kings' innings a late blitz from Reeza Hendricks and Ali powered them to what seemed a defendable 168 for three.

After the Super Kings got off to a slow start with 103 runs off the first 15 overs, the final five went for 65 runs as Hendricks carried his bat to finish unbeaten on 79 off 56 balls (7x4, 3x6), while Ali chipped in with a valuable unbeaten 23 off 12 (2x4, 2x6).

The start of the hosts' innings saw just 19 runs off the first five overs before an action-packed final over of the powerplay kicked things into gear.

With Lungi Ngidi bowling it the first ball was cracked for four by Faf du Plessis (17), the second saw him bowled through the gate, and the final three balls saw new batter Leus du Plooy, 30 off 16 balls (4x4, 1x6) smash a six and two boundaries with 18 coming off it and a wicket.

The Royals tightened things up again over the next few overs, with the Super Kings only reaching 50 in the ninth over, while in the next Du Plooy guided a ball from Andile Phehlukwayo straight to Tabraiz Shamsi at short third man leaving them on 62 for two at the halfway stage.

Sibonelo Makhanya (15) joined Hendricks at the crease and they set about a 44-run third wicket stand as they ticked things along before taking aim at the 15th bowled by Shamsi, with Makhanya hitting a four and Hendricks a six as 13 came off it taking them over the 100-run mark.

Makhanya fell in the 16th, stumped by keeper Buttler off the bowling of Allen, while new batter Ali announced himself at the crease with a second-ball six.

The next three overs saw carnage as Hendricks cracked two fours and a six to get to his half-century in style with 15 off Ngidi’s 17th, followed by 11 off Obed McCoy’s 18th, while Ngidi’s 19th disappeared for 22 runs as two fours from Hendricks and a six and a four from Ali saw it go the distance, before McCoy bowled a tidy final over with just eight off it.

JOBURG SUPER KINGS: Reeza Hendricks, Faf du Plessis (capt), Leus du Plooy, Mooen Ali, Sibonelo Makhanya, Donovan Ferreira (wk), Kyle Simmonds, Romario Shepherd, Lizaad Williams, Nandre Burger, Imran Tahir

PAARL ROYALS: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (capt, wk), Wihan Lubbe, Dane Vilas, Mitchell van Buuren, Andile Phehlukwayo, Fabian Allen, Bjorn Fortuin, Lungi Ngidi, Obed McCoy, Tabraiz Shamsi