Staff Reporter.
Evan Jones and Bjorn Fortuin steered the Paarl Royals to victory as they won by 10 runs in their Betway SA20 encounter against Durban’s Super Giants at Boland Park in Paarl on Tuesday.
Chasing 170 to win in sweltering conditions in Paarl, Heinrich Klaasen scored an unbeaten half-century as the Durban’s Super Giants were restricted to 159-8.
West Indian opener Kyle Mayers handed Fortuin an easy caught and bowled for 12.
Fortuin then went on to take two successive wickets as skipper Quinton de Kock found an inside edge onto his stumps for a duck and then got a successful review as he trapped Dwaine Pretorius LBW for a golden duck.
Fortuin ended with superb figures of three for 14 in his four overs.
Spinner Tabraiz Shamsi continued where Fortuin left off as he got Wiaan Mulder, who was promoted up the order, to sweep and find Dane Vilas at deep backward square for 29 off 24 balls.
Jason Holder made a handy 17 off 12 balls before he slapped the ball straight to deep midwicket off the bowling of Jones.
A 31-run partnership between Heinrich Klaasen and Christiaan Jonker formed before Jones got Jonker to get caught at deep square leg for 12.
Klaasen’s half-century went in vain as he kept on losing partners at the other end as Jones produced some magic with the ball.
Jones took two wickets in two successive balls as Keshav Maharaj was caught down leg for 17 and Hardus Viljoen caught by a sliding Miller at long-on for a golden duck.
Klaasen played superbly as he remained unbeaten on 56 off 39 balls (hitting two fours and two sixes) as Durban fell short by 10 runs.
Jones ended as the pick of the Royals’ bowling attack as he ended on figures of four for 32
Earlier on, Wihan Lubbe scored a half-century as the Paarl Royals posted a competitive 169-6 after being sent to bat first.
Lubbe shared a 53-run partnership with Jos Buttler before Quinton de Kock stumped Buttler off the bowling of Keshav Maharaj. Buttler departed for 35 off 27 balls (hitting two fours and a six).
However, Lubb continued piling on the runs as he brought up a fighting fifty in sweltering conditions as he scored 57 off 46 balls (hitting five fours and three sixes) before he was bowled by Reece Topley.
Eoin Morgan didn’t last long as he was caught in the deep off the bowling of allrounder Dwaine Pretorius for two.
Pretorius struck again in the final over as he got a hard-hitting David Miller to find the fielder on the boundary rope and depart for 28 off 19 balls (hitting two fours and a six).
Pretorius was the pick of the Super Giants’ bowling attack, ending with figures of two for 35 in his four overs.
PAARL ROYALS: Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Wihan Lubbe, David Miller (captain), Eoin Morgan, Dane Vilas, Fersico Adams, Bjorn Fortuin, Evan Jones, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi
DURBAN’S SUPER GIANTS: Kyle Mayers, Quinton de Kock (captain), Christiaan Jonker, Heinrich Klaasen, Prenelan Subrayen, Jason Holder, Wiaan Mulder, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj, Hardus Viljoen, Reece Topley.