• Paarl Royals take hold of top spot

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    The Paarl Royals cemented their position at the top of the SA20 table with a hard-fought five-wicket victory over Durban’s Super Giants at Kingsmead on Thursday.

    The Super Giants, meanwhile, remain rooted to the basement on eight points and face an uphill battle to qualify for the playoffs with three league matches remaining.

    Lance Klusener’s team can now reach a maximum of 23 points if they win each of their matches with a bonus point.

    The Royals are already on 20 points and are within touching distance of becoming the first team to qualify for this season’s playoffs.

    HIGHLIGHTS: Durban’s Super Giants vs Paarl Royals (SA20)

    It was a battle of the Afghanistan mystery spinners between the Royals’ Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and Super Giants’ Noor Ahmad.

    Mujeeb produced another masterclass of 2-23 to restrict the Super Giants to 142-7.

    It was a superb effort considering DSG powered out of the starting blocks through a 62-run opening stand between Matthew Breetzke (25 off 29 balls) and Quinton de Kock (43 off 30).

    De Kock’s promotion to the top of the order certainly paid dividends, but he holed out to deep long-off against Mujeeb just when it seemed he was hitting his stride.

    Mujeeb also removed the dangerous Heinrich Klaasen for two as the Royals tightened the screws during the middle overs.

    All-rounders Wiaan Mulder (24) and Jon-Jon Smuts (32) attempted a rebuilding job, but all the momentum was now with the Royals.

    They were even able to absorb the early loss of Joe Root with Lhuan-dre Pretorius belting another rapid 25 off 13 balls (four fours).

    The Super Giants turned to Noor Ahmad to replicate his compatriot Mujeeb’s earlier heroics.

    It was required, for Rubin Hermann was once again proving to be the find of the competition for the Royals with a blitzkrieg 44 off just 22 balls (four fours, three sixes) to spearhead the run chase.

    Ahmad, though, is a class act and produced arguably the ball of the competition to clean bowl the well-set Hermann.

    Unfortunately for the Super Giants, it was the only success for Ahmad on the night.

    Mitchell van Buuren laid down the anchor with a composed 44 that took the Royals to the brink of victory.

    The Royals can now confidently look forward to their clash against the Pretoria Capitals on Saturday at Boland Park, while the Super Giants will need to regroup quickly ahead of their trip to Newlands to face MI Cape Town.

    Photo: Shaun Roy/Sportzpics

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    Simon Borchardt