Joburg Super Kings 166 for 5 (du Plooy 54*, Salamkheil 2-42) beat Paarl Royals 122 (Lawrence 45, Subrayen 3-14, Tahir 2-17) by 44 runs
Qualifier 1 will be played between two-time champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Pretoria Capitals on Wednesday.
More worrying for Royals than the result of the match is the unavailability of their captain David Miller, who suffered a lower limb injury scare in the JSK innings; he did not bat. Miller’s situation will also be a concern for South Africa, who begin their T20 World Cup campaign in three weeks’ time in Ahmedabad. South Africa are already likely to be without JSK stand-in captain Donovan Ferreira, who has a fractured shoulder.
New skipper out for a duck but Timmers and Pepper recover
Wiaan Mulder’s poor tournament
Wiaan Mulder started the competition with 43 off 28 balls, but things haven’t gone well for him since then. That remains his only score over 20 of the tournament so far. Things got no better for him in this match. He was at the crease in the 17th over, which gave him little time to make an impact. His fourth ball went for four but there wasn’t much else off his bat. Mulder was done in by a Mokoena slower ball and bowled when he swiped across the line, playing the shot too early. He was Mokoena’s only wicket of the night, which took Mokoena to fifth on the bowling charts.
Pretorius gets Paarl off to a solid start
It’s also been a tough competition for last year’s leading run-scorer Lhuan-dre Pretorius, who has only had one score of substance – his 98* against MICT – so far. But he took control early on, when he hit the fourth ball of the innings through mid-off, off Akeal Hosein. He went on to flick Mulder through midwicket, send Prenelan Subrayen in the same direction, and hit Nandre Burger through mid-on to end the powerplay on 43 for 1. Pretorius was dismissed soon after the restrictions were lifted, when he was caught behind off Tahir, to leave Royals at 46 for 2 in the seventh over.
Age is nothing but a number. If there is one person who embodies it, it’s Tahir. Playing in just his second match of this SA20, and after removing Pretorius for 32, Tahir produced a classic to dismiss Delano Potgieter for 1 in the 13th over. Tahir pitched it on middle and leg, kept Potgieter on the back foot and hit him on the back pad. As Tahir did his trademark Siuuu celebration, Potgieter reviewed. However, ball-tracking confirmed that the ball was going on to hit the stumps and Royals were 82 for 4 in the 13th over, needing 85 to win off 47 balls.
