Paarl Royals 191 for 4 (R Hermann 65*, Lawrence 63, E Bosch 2-29) beat Durban’s Super Giants 186 for 5 (Markram 66, Mujeeb 2-22, Mokoena 2-56) by six wickets
The result moves Royals to No. 2, above SEC on net run-rate, and leaves DSG in fifth spot. DSG must beat PR in the return fixture on Saturday, their last league game, and will need other results to go their way. Royals have three more matches left.
The match was not without its drama as Royals were in control for most of the chase but lost wickets at crucial times. Lawrence and David Miller were dismissed in the space of four balls which left it to Raza to finish off. He kept his cool, even as Eathan Bosch and David Wiese threatened to pull off a special win. Royals needed six off the last over and Wiese conceded four off the first five balls before Raza hit him over mid-wicket to ensure a crowd that stayed out late on the final evening of school holidays were rewarded for their commitment.
Sunil Narine dominated the first three overs as DSG raced to 32 without loss, then Markram got through Royals’ mostly-spin squeeze and he chose his moment to hit out. In the 12th over, Markram hit Raza, at the tournament’s joint-leading wicket-taker for six over long-on twice. He reached 50 off 35 balls and finished on 66 off 46.
Mokoena’s death-bowling disintegrates
DSG strike twice in the powerplay
There’s a lot of expectations on Royals’ opening pair of Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Asa Tribe but they came second to experience as they were both dismissed inside five overs and DSG seemed to take hold of the game. David Wiese, who has been playing professional cricket longer than the pair have been alive, showed his experience when he came back from being hit for four by Pretorius to bowl Tribe off the inside-edge, as the Jersey-born batter tried to send a fuller, widish ball over the leg-side. Pretorius got to the fifth over, but was frustrated with a lack of boundary-hitting options and was caught at square leg when he tried to pull Bosch over mid-wicket. Evan Jones took a tumbling catch at square leg to leave Royals 36 for 2, with victory a long way away.
SA20’s dropped catches and the one that changed this game
It’s match 23 and by ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by ball-count there have been 37 chances put down in this edition so far. And one of the ones we will remember came in the 11th over of the chase. Lawrence was on 41 off 27 balls, he had just hit Liam Livingstone for six over mid-wicket and four through deep backward square and his partnership with Hermann had grown to 59.
Royals were 95 for 2, and needed another 92 runs off 9.4 overs so they were about halfway there in terms of runs and balls. And then, Livingstone bowled it full, Lawrence tried to slog sweep and top-edged to deep fine leg. David Bedingham, playing just his second match of the tournament, was stationed there. While Lawrence went down on his haunches in irritation, Bedingham steadied himself under the ball and then watched it wobble its way out of his hands. That was DSG’s 10th drop of the tournament, the most by any team, Lawrence went on to get 63, DSG dropped an 11th and Royals secured the win.