Durban Supergiants book their place in Qualifier 1 at Newlands
Durban: SA20 table-toppers Durban’s Super Giants continued their winning streak in their final home match of the season on Tuesday evening, booking their place in Qualifier 1 of the playoffs at Newlands on 6 February.
The Super Giants reached 32 points after claiming their third consecutive win with an eight-run win over Pretoria Capitals, who remain bottom of the table with nine points.
Matthew Britzke was once again the cornerstone of DSG’s batting performance, scoring a brilliant 73 off 46 balls, earning the stylish right-hander his second consecutive Player of the Match award.
After this, fast bowler Junior Dala gave an inspiring performance in the field, taking a brilliant catch at the boundary and then taking 5/26 to help restrict the Capitals to 166/9 in reply to DSG’s 174/9.
Bretzke and Quinton de Kock were in a mood to make up for Tony De Zorzi’s early loss as the Super Giants reached 71/1 inside the power play.
Bretzke remained in great form throughout the competition and his stylish cover drives became a trademark of the SA20 Season 2.
He was the main aggressor in a 51-run partnership with De Kock for the second wicket, before Adil Rashid had him caught at long-off for 16.
Bretzke continued the momentum to complete his half-century – his second consecutive half-century off just 30 balls.
But it was at this stage that Senuran Muthusamy started using his vast knowledge of local conditions to lure the home team into a trap.
Muthusamy (3/25) initially dismissed Bretzke for 73 (46 balls, 10×4, 3×6), then dismissed Keemo Paul (0) and then silenced the entire Kingsmead crowd when he dismissed the dangerous Heinrich Klaasen ( 30 off 18 balls) was caught at cover. He was finding his rhythm.
Darryn Dupavilion also performed strongly for the Capitals with 3/25 as DSG lost eight wickets for 98 runs.
Capitals’ run chase failed to take off after opener Phil Salt was out on the second ball.
Will Jacques played a solo inning of 41 runs as Capitals faltered against Dala’s impressive pace.
Riley Rossouw’s innings of 10 runs in 27 balls was a clear indication of the Capitals’ struggle.
“In the back end, it came close but we controlled it well in the middle – Noor, Naveen and Junior Dala gave us the cushion at the back end. It’s a pleasing sign that everyone is standing up when needed .Hopefully we can do everything our way in the competition,” Super Giants captain, Keshav Maharaj said after the match.
On the other hand, Capitals captain Wayne Parnell has not given up hope of his team qualifying for the playoffs with only two matches remaining against fellow strugglers MI Cape Town.
“I still think after the start they got, the score was probably 230-240. It was very good to restrict them to 170. We needed a big partnership to chase our target,” he said.
“We have missed important moments in different games. There is still a lot to play, we have two more games to play and after that we will see where we are,” he said.
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