Three teams remained locked in battle for the last two spots in the knockout stages.
Faf du Plessis bashed a half-century for the Joburg Super Kings in their SA20 match against the Paarl Royals. Picture: Arjun Singh/Sportzpics
Led from the front by captain Faf du Plessis, the Joburg Super Kings kept themselves in the hunt for the SA20 playoffs on Thursday night, charging to an impressive seven-wicket victory over the high-flying Paarl Royals at the Wanderers.
Set a target of 151 runs to win, and with their trophy ambitions at stake, the Super Kings made sure with a spectacular effort from their top-order batters and their bowlers.
Opening batter Du Plessis smashed his 78th career half-century – and his second of the tournament – racing to 87 runs off 55 balls in an innings which featured seven sixes.
The skipper was eventually removed in the 16th over, but by that point the damage had been done, and the Super Kings secured the win with 13 deliveries to spare.
Paarl Royals innings
Earlier, after being sent in to bat, middle-order batter Dinesh Karthik played a solid role for the Royals, hitting 53 runs off 49 balls.
But the visitors were well restricted by the Super Kings bowling line-up, who prevented big partnerships from building and gave away just 13 runs in the last three overs, with the Royals reaching 150/9.
The hosts were spearheaded by seam bowler Lutho Sipamla, who took 3/19, and spinner Donovan Ferreira, who returned 3/23.
Looking ahead
While the Royals had already qualified for next week’s playoffs, along with MI Cape Town, the Super Kings remained locked in a battle with Sunrisers Eastern Cape and the Pretoria Capitals for the remaining two spots.
The Joburg side were level on 19 points with title holders the Sunrisers, while the Capitals were five points behind.
Though the Super Kings and the Sunrisers were ahead of them in the standings, however, the Capitals held a game in hand over both teams ahead of the knockout stages.
The Joburg and Eastern Cape sides each had one match left, while the Pretoria team had two games to play this weekend.
The Capitals will face MI Cape Town in their last two games of the league stage at SuperSport Park on Friday and at Newlands on Sunday.
The Sunrisers will play their last game ahead of the playoffs against Paarl Royals in Gqeberha on Saturday, and the Super Kings are up against log-bottom Durban’s Super Giants at the Wanderers later in the day.
