Paarl Royals crushed Durban’s Super Giants by five wickets with 15 balls to spare in their Betway SA20 clash at Kingsmead in Durban on Thursday night.
The four points gained enabled them to increase their lead at the top of the table with their fifth victory.
If the men from the wine country are happy, the local team are in crisis with only one win in seven matches.
DSG remain marooned at the bottom of the table and they will need three victories on the road to have any chance of qualification. It seems a distant prospect.
The decently-sized home crowd were hushed for much of the match after they had witnessed – once again – their team’s middle-order imploding.
Having won the toss, DSG simply didn’t get enough runs when they were restricted to a modest 142 for seven wickets.
By contrast, Paarl always had the match in hand after young sensation Lhuan-dre Pretorius (25 in 13 balls) and Rubin Hermann (44 in 22 balls) powered their team to 70 in the powerplay against DSG’s erratic pace attack.
This enabled the visitors to milk the potentially dangerous spinners on their way to an easy win.
Hopes were briefly raised for the home team when Joe Root went first ball, well caught by Heinrich Klaasen at slip off the bowling of Chris Woakes.
But Pretorius seemed unfazed by this, scoring the first 25 runs in the innings with five powerful boundaries before he got a leading edge to Junior Dala with Maharaj at mid-off claiming the skier.
Hermann and Van Buuren then constructed the key partnership of the match as they pounded 52 in 27 balls for the third wicket.
Hermann was the dominant force in the partnership, smashing four fours and three sixes in his glittering innings.
DSG's bowling attack stood no chance against a confident Rubin Hermann 🙌🏏#BetwaySA20 | @picknpayasap pic.twitter.com/MR4SY12Ewk
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) January 23, 2025
His departure constituted the best moment for DSG when their brilliant left-arm spinner, Noor Ahmad, turned a googly through the gate to wreck his stumps.
But Van Buuren and David Miller, despite some moments of vulnerability against Noor, did not need to take any undue risks in their partnership of 59 off 62 balls which cemented the win as Paarl cruised to 146 for five in 17.3 overs.
David Miller is pleased with what he saw from Paarl Royals in Durban 🩷🎤#BetwaySA20 | #SummerOfCricket pic.twitter.com/WNljUFP2po
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) January 23, 2025
Noor, by far the most dangerous of DSG’s bowlers, was unlucky not to take more wickets, troubling all the batters and having bad luck in the field with Williamson dropping Miller.
In the end he finished with 1-30 off his four overs while Maharaj was economical, conceding just 20 runs in his spell.
Noor Ahmad brings some light to Durban's Super Giants 💡 #BetwaySA20 #DSGvPR #WelcomeToIncredible pic.twitter.com/oQlQvcLc34
— Betway SA20 (@SA20_League) January 23, 2025
Dala claimed two wickets but was expensive, going for 38.
PAARL SPINNERS RESTRICT SUPER GIANTS
Earlier, Paarl spinners Bjorn Fortuin (1-13) – player of the match for his tight spell – Mujeeb Ur Rahman (2-23) and Joe Root (1-18) conceded a miserly 54 runs in their combined 12 overs on a slow, sticky pitch that took some turn.
Bjorn Fortuin's performance was worthy of the Player of the Match award 🏅 #BetwaySA20 #DSGvPR #WelcomeToIncredible pic.twitter.com/PNT5KQhp83
— Betway SA20 (@SA20_League) January 23, 2025
There has been plenty of rain in the city over the last few days and the spinners exploited the conditions with clinical expertise.
The DSG innings was built around an opening stand of 62 in 54 balls by Quinton de Kock – happily restored to the top of the order – and Matthew Breetzke and a fifth-wicket stand of 59 in 45 balls from Wiaan Mulder (24) and Jon-Jon Smuts (32 off 22 balls) at the back end of the innings.
Quinton de Kock at the top of the order 😍#BetwaySA20 #DSGvPR #WelcomeToIncredible pic.twitter.com/uSD4B6LQTO
— Betway SA20 (@SA20_League) January 23, 2025
In between, not for the first time in this competition, the middle-order failed. Once again, Klaasen was unable to get going, even surviving a rare dropped catch by Miller before Miller made up for that mistake by catching a miscued pull to see the back of the usually destructive middle-order striker for five in nine balls.
Williamson, batting at three, came and went, tamely holing out to Miller at long-off off the bowling of Root whose round-arm deliveries proved particularly effective.
The biggest disappointment for the home fans was the dismissal of De Kock who batted superbly, striking three fours and three sixes in his 30-ball 43.
But when he seemed poised to take DSG well past the 150-mark, he miscued a drive off Rahman to Hermann on the long-on boundary.
Paarl’s pace bowlers, expensive up front, came back reasonably well in the last five overs, and Smuts and Mulder were unable to make hay at the back end of the innings.
DURBAN’S SUPER GIANTS: Matthew Breetzke, Quinton de Kock (wk), Kane Williamson, Heinrich Klaasen, Wiaan Mulder, Chris Woakes, Jon-Jon Smuts, Keshav Maharaj (capt), Junior Dala, Noor Ahmad, Naveen ul-Haq
PAARL ROYALS: Joe Root, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Rubin Hermann, Mitchell van Buuren, David Miller (capt), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Dayyaan Galiem, Keith Dudgeon, Bjorn Fortuin, Mujeeb ur-Rahman, Eshan Malinga