Sunrisers, SuperGiants secure comfortable wins

Sunrisers Eastern Cape vs Paarl Royals

Marco Jansen and Craig Overton bowled inexpensive spells and returned three wickets apiece as Sunrisers Eastern Cape secured a comfortable 48-run win over Paarl Royals.

The victory was set up by Jordan Hermann's 38-ball 53 after Eastern Cape had elected to bat. On a surface where most batters struggled, Hermann struck six boundaries and a six to lay the foundation of the defending champions' total of 148 for 8. Tristan Stubbs, who also struggled to motor on early in his innings, was one among only three batters to register a double digit score. He made up for his slow start by smothering a breezy 27-ball 43, smashing a boundary three successive sixes off Mitchell Owen in the last over.

In response, Royals, who had already secured their qualification, failed to put up a fight. By the fourth over, Overton and Jansen had already reduced them to 22 for 5. Much like Eastern Cape, even they had only three batters going past single digits with only Rubin Hermann and Andile Phehlukwayo making any noteworthy contributions. But even those two were scoring at less than run-a-ball, with their 49-run alliance for the sixth wicket coming in 51 balls. Aiden Markram struck twice with the ball in the 13th over and there was no revival for them as Royals suffered their second successive loss.

Brief Scores: Sunrisers Eastern Cape 148/8 in 20 overs (Jordan Hermann 53, Tristan Stubbs 43; Bjorn Fortuin 2-20, Eshan Malinga 2-21) beat Paarl Royals 100 in 18.2 overs (Rubin Hermann 35, Andile Phehlukwayo 22; Craig Overton 3-15, Marco Jansen 3-22) by 48 runs.

Joburg Super Kings vs Durban Super Giants

Durban Super Giants ended a forgettable season on a positive note by registering their second win of the season - their first came in the opening game - against the playoffs-bound Joburg Super Kings in a rain-affected encounter at the Wanderers. Powered by an explosive 76* from Heinrich Klaasen, the visitors got to 173 for 4 before rain readjusted JSK's chase to 147 from 16 overs. Despite a blazing half-century from Donovan Ferreira, the Super Kings fell 11 runs short.

Inserted into bat, the Super Giants openers got off the blocks very quickly. But both Quinton de Kock and Matthew Breetzke were dismissed in the same over after their 39-run association. Lutho Sipamla capped off the PowerPlay with a wicket-maiden in which he nipped out Marcus Stoinis for a duck. At 39 for 3, Williamson and Klaasen joined hands for a crucial half-century stand. Viljoen came back to break the stand as he removed the former with a leg-cutter. The scoring-rate dipped for a few overs after that.

Ferreira bowled two tight overs and Sipamla bowled a fantastic 18th over by using his slower deliveries smartly. Viljoen, however, leaked 23 runs off the penultimate over and the Klaasen-Mulder duo ended up forging an unbeaten 70-run stand off just 43 deliveries with the former blasting half-a-dozen sixes in his 47-ball knock. Along the way, he also became the first player to notch up 1000 runs in SA20.

A target of 173 was already above par given the average scores at the venue in the tournament with substantial nip and bounce available for the seamers. Despite losing Leus du Plooy early, JSK got off to a brisk start courtesy their in-form captain Faf du Plessis before rain took the players off the field for 64 minutes. When they returned, JSK were set back right away when Noor Ahmad cleaned up du Plessis and Wihan Lubbe in a double-wicket maiden.

The setback forced Devon Conway to drop anchor and he struggled to a 24-ball 21 before he was put out of his miseries by Naveen-ul-Haq. Ferreira entered with the asking rate beyond 14 runs per over. He smashed three sixes and a four in a 23-run takedown of Keshav Maharaj before slamming two more maximums off Naveen. He brought it down to 20 off the last over but hurt himself while swinging the second ball of the Pretorius' final over and needed his back to be heavily strapped up. Clearly hampered, he was dismissed off the very next ball for a 22-ball 51 and JSK fell 11 short.

Brief scores: Durban Super Giants 173/4 in 20 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 76*; Hardus Viljoen 2-42) beat Joburg Super Kings 135/9 in 16 overs (Donovan Ferreira 51; Noor Ahmad 3-25) by 11 runs [DLS Method]