By Patrick Compton.
Paceman Junior Dala claimed career-best figures of 5/26 to help clinch an eight-run victory for Durban’s Super Giants over the Pretoria Capitals to extend their lead to 10 points at the top of the Betway SA20 table at Kingsmead in Durban on Tuesday.
The Super Giants have now confirmed their position in Qualifier 1 next week between the two top teams on the log.
Dala, playing in place of England paceman Reece Topley, not only played a dominant role in restricting the Capitals to 166 for nine chasing 175 for victory, but also took a sensational catch in the first over on the point boundary, knocking back Phil Salt’s six-bound hit before recovering to dive sideways and claim the ball centimetres off the ground just inside the rope.
Dala just lost out on the player of the match award to Matthew Breetzke who struck a magnificent 73 in 46 balls with the bat – his second consecutive half-century – and then threw down the wicket from 25 metres to run out Senuran Muthusamy after diving to save the boundary. Breetzke throughout was brilliant in the field, time and again saving runs in the outfield with his lightning pace.
Dala’s most valuable scalp was that of Will Jacks who was threatening to take the game away from the Super Giants, slamming 41 in 26 balls including the biggest six of the competition to date, 108 metres off paceman Naveen-ul-Haq. Jacks had already single-handedly beaten the Super Giants in the fixture in Pretoria, hitting a brilliant century in 42 balls and he was looking threatening again, plundering five fours and two sixes.
But Dala, bowling fast and straight, castled Jacks as he looked to pull, and he followed this up with an almost identical dismissal, bowling Colin Ackermann.
Remarkably, Dala has so far played three matches for the Super Giants in two years in the competition, taking 10 wickets.
Perhaps the most surprising innings came from the normally belligerent Rilee Rossouw. The chunky left-hander simply couldn’t time the ball and his 10 runs came off 27 balls without any boundaries before he mistimed a pull off Dala to midwicket.
One area that needs improvement for the Super Giants was their extras’ count of 25, including 12 wides and two no-balls. Keemo Paul, who bowled the final over, had something of a nightmare game, being dismissed for nought second ball, dropping a catch and then being belted for 44 in his three overs including 20 off the last over – including a no ball – when the Capitals needed 29 for an unlikely win.
Earlier, former Dolphin Muthusamy returned to his home ground to stifle the momentum of the home team’s innings as he claimed 3/26 to restrict the home team to a lesser total than they would have expected after a speedy start to the innings.
The left-arm spinner bowled with good discipline, grabbing the wickets of DSG’s two big guns, Breetzke (73 in 46 balls) and Heinrich Klaasen (30 in 18 balls). Breetzke and Keemo Paul went in two balls while Klaasen holed out to extra-cover in his next over.
It was a sharp comedown for DSG after Breetzke and Quinton de Kock had added 61 in 32 balls for the second wicket after Tony de Zorzi went early, caught on the boundary off Jacks. De Kock played in the shadow of Breetzke – he didn’t face a delivery for 11 balls by which time Breetzke had reached 29.
DSG reached a healthy 71 in the powerplay, an excellent launching pad for the innings, or so it seemed. Breetzke and Klaasen added 42 in 28 balls for the fourth wicket and it seemed that the home franchise would go past the 200 mark for the second match in succession. But then Muthusamy entered the fray, Breetzke holed out to long-off and DSG lost four wickets for 18 runs in four overs to send the innings into a downward spiral. Breetzke has now scored two consecutive half-centuries and he played with supreme self-confidence to crack 10 fours and three sixes.
In the end Jon-Jon Smuts held the fort amidst the clatter of wickets for a solid unbeaten 21 in 17 balls while tailender Naveen-ul-Haq ended the innings on a high, hooking Wayne Parnell for four and six off the final two deliveries – the second of which resulted in Durban’s first crowd catch.
Aside from Muthusamy, paceman Daryn Dupavillon bowled with fire and fully deserved his figures of 3/25, tearing a hole in DSG’s lower order with the scalps of Mulder, Maharaj and Dala.
Durban’s Super Giants: Matthew Breetzke, Tony de Zorzi, Quinton de Kock, Jon-Jon Smuts, Keemo Paul, Heinrich Klaasen, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj (capt), Junior Dala, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq
Pretoria Capitals: Phil Salt (wk), Will Jacks, Kyle Verreyne, Rilee Rossouw, Colin Ackermann, Colin Ingram, Senuran Muthusamy, Wayne Parnell (capt), Ethan Bosch, Adil Rashid, Daryn Dupavillon.