Durban Super Giants Book SA20 Final Spot By Dispatching of Joburg Super Kings
The Durban Super Giants bounced back to qualify for the SA20 League final with a comprehensive 69-run win over the Joburg Super Kings at the Wanderers.
The Durban Super Giants bounced back to qualify for the SA20 League final with a comprehensive 69-run win over the Joburg Super Kings at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Thursday night.
After losing the first qualifier to the Sunrisers Eastern Cape on Tuesday night, the Durban side produced a familiar display to absolutely smash the Super Kings on their own home ground.
The final between the Super Giants and the Sunrisers will be played at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday. Both teams deserve to be in the showpiece match after being the two outstanding teams in the competition in Season 2.
Both teams won seven matches, as the Sunrisers and Super Giants finished 11 and 10 points respectively above the third-placed Paarl Royals in the standings.
After losing the toss, as well as early wickets, the Super Giants regrouped before smashing their way to 211/6 in their allotted 20 overs.
The Super Kings' bowlers bowled really well upfront, and had the Super Giants at 52/5 after seven overs.
However, after a sedate start to their partnership, Heinrich Klaasen (74 off 30 balls) and Wiaan Mulder (50 not out off 23) clobbered their way to a 101-run stand off just 38 balls to set up this massive score.
The Super Giants then made the perfect start with the ball, Naveen-ul-Haq (2/27) getting the big wicket of Faf du Plessis with the second delivery of the second over.
The Super Kings had a few starts with the bat, but nobody could make a substantial contribution to chase down a total which was definitely above par.
Super Giants speedster Junior Dala (4/38) made light work of the home side's lower order to finish the match with 2.2 overs to spare.
The crunch match had more than just a little bit of niggle
As far as heated exchanges go, this was probably the match of the tournament, with both teams having quite a lot to say to each from ball one.
Super Kings fast bowler Nandre Burger seemed to be in the thick of the action, having a lot to say, while his wicket celebrations also seemed to get under the Super Giants’ skin, especially when he cleaned bowled Quinton de Kock (23 off 17 balls).
The tensions seemed to reach boiling point when Klaasen lost his wicket to Burger following yet another astonishing assault on the bowling from arguably the most in-form white-ball batsman in the world right now.
“I don’t know (what made Klaasen so angry). I wish I knew, because I try to get that out of him every game!” Super Giants all-rounder Mulder said.
“I think it’s got something to do with the celebrations from the JSK team. If you watched throughout the competition, their celebrations were extravagant.
“He (Klaasen) is from the old school, you do things properly and try to stay humble. If you look at his game at the moment, he is probably the best in the world.”
Burger mentioned that the tension between the two teams may have been heightened by the knockout fixture, with the loser packing their bags.
“It’s a knockout game, so nobody wanted to lose,” said Burger.
“Everyone has their way of doing it, and sometimes that’s what you do to get into the game. Tonight it just worked a bit better for Klaasie than everyone else.”
Klaasen and Mulder set up Super Giants win hitting exhibition
The Klaasen-Mulder show was brutal on the Super Kings’ bowlers, with the duo twice hitting 29 runs in an over. The one occasion came off the bowling of 44-year-old leg spinner Imran Tahir (0/45 in three overs).
Their 101-run stand blew the Super Kings out of the water following a difficult start. Both sets of players thought it wasn’t quite a 200-run pitch, but Mulder and Klaasen had other ideas.
“They obviously felt they weren’t at a par score and caught us a bit off guard going hard a bit earlier than we expected,” said Burger.
“Anytime a team scores 60 runs in two overs, it catches the fielding team by surprise and you feel like you’re chasing the game.”
Mulder says taking it deep with their partnership was key to setting the platform for the fireworks at the back end of the innings.
“We kind of knew the wicket had something in it. It was important to have a partnership.
“We had a couple of match-ups with their bowlers and it came good today. There was no set time to pull the trigger, it just happened. I came in and I scored freely upfront.
“I got a couple of soft balls that got my innings going, Klaasie then got going, and when he gets going, he is not easy to stop.”
Super Giants’ consistency key to their performances
The Super Giants now have a chance at glory after overcoming a bit of stumble to eventually reach the SA20 final.
They certainly have been one of the two best teams in the competition, with many weapons at their disposal with both bat and ball.
They will miss wrist-spinner Noor Ahmed for the final, but they have enough players who have constantly and consistently put their hand up.
“If you look at our team, we played pretty much the same team in every match, although we did have a couple of internationals coming in and out of the team who had a massive impact straight away,” said Mulder.
“The difference for us have been the individual performances, with Matthew Breetzke carrying the batting, Heinrich Klaasen is an absolute superstar and Noor Ahmemd taking many wickets in a few games. Junior has come in and put his hand up.
“Everybody wants to contribute, it’s just not a one-man show. It’s very similar to the Sunrisers, who have players who have put in consistent performances. That is the sort of thing that wins you these competitions.”
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John Goliath is a copywriter and editor with 20 years' experience in the sports media industry. John, a Tottenham Hotspur tragic, studied journalism in the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and has worked for two of the biggest media houses in South Africa.