SA20: Quinton de Kock Fires Durban Super Giants To Win Over Paarl Royals

Quinton de Kock finally came to the SA20 League party when set up the Durban Super Giants’ emphatic 57-run win over the Paarl Royals at Boland Park in Paarl on Friday night.

The bonus-point win shot the Durban Super Giants to the top of the SA20 standings with 23 points, one point ahead of the Royals. The big win also gave their net run-rate a big boost, while also hurting the Paarl team’s net run-rate.

De Kock’s 83 off 51 balls, Jon Jon Smuts’ half-century and Heinrich Klaasen’s brutal assault at the end of their innings helped the Super Giants to 190/3, almost 40 runs above par at Boland Park and the highest ever recorded SA20 score at this venue.

The Royals started well with the ball and bat, but they were outplayed by the Super Giants when it mattered. They could only manage 133 all out, 19 runs short of preventing the Super Giants achieving a bonus-point victory.

De Kock came into the match short of runs after failures in the Super Giants’ first five matches. He has played innings 0, 7, 25, 2 and 23 coming into the match following an outstanding Cricket World Cup for the Proteas in India.

The Proteas wicket-keeper paced his innings brilliantly after coming in at number four with the Super Giants’ struggling on 24/4. De Kock and Smuts (52 off 39 balls) shared an 118-run partnership to set up the attack at the end of the innings.

Proteas big hitter Heinrich Klaasen then hit 30 off 9 balls to get the Super Giants to the 190-mark, which was always going to be a tall order for the home side.

Klaasen said that they had no doubt that De Kock was going to come good in the tournament, and is now looking for the left-hander to shine ahead of the playoffs.

“Quinny at the back end was amazing. The moment he finds his rhythm on a wicket, he is a world-class player who can take the game away from the opposition,” said Klaasen

“He is a big-match guy. I told Morne (Morkel) today, even if he gets five ducks, come the playoffs you know Quinny will be there scoring runs.

“I’m very happy that he came off today. It helps us a lot and it puts him in a good space coming up to the latter part of the competition.”

It’s been the perfect trip to the Cape for the Super Giants, beating MI Cape Town and the Royals with bonus points to move to the top of the standings.

They face the Royals again on Sunday in a top-of-the-table clash, with another win possibly securing their place in the playoffs.

“This has been a great trip of us. Winning with two bonus points doesn’t happen a lot and going back home it’s important for us to keep our momentum, said Klaasen.

“We all know how tough playoffs can be, so finishing first or second on the log will give us a better chance of reaching the final.”

Royals coach Shane Bond conceded that the Super Giants were the better team on the day. But there is very little time for reflection as the teams face each other on Sunday in return fixture.

“We got work to do. The first 10 overs were pretty good, but the back half of their batting innings got away from us,” said Bond.

“A score of 190 was always going to be a challenge. The wicket was pretty good, but their bowling performance was excellent, it was what we normally do at home with our discipline.

“They just comprehensively outplayed us. We weren’t at our best tonight and when you do that in this tournament, you will get beaten.”
 

First team to win the toss at Boland Park and win

Royals captain David Miller has now lost four tosses in a row during their home games. They won those previous three matches at home, winning two of them batting first.

But batting first was always going to be the play, even though the Super Giants were 24/2 after the first after losing Matthew Breetzke (10) and Tony de Zorzi (12) in the fourth over of the match.
 

De Kock and Smuts produce match-winning partnership

De Kock’s innings will certainly ring around the other dressing rooms in the competition. As the SA20 heads towards the business end, he can certainly be a destructive force for the Super Giants.

The wicket-keeper played sensibly upfront along with Smuts, and once he got the conditions under his belt, he started to score freely, which laid the platform for Klaasen to take down Lungi Ngidi (1/45) and Obed McCoy (1/39) at the death.

Klaasen and De Kock smashed 48 runs off 16 balls with some clean hitting, basically taking the game beyond the Royals.

“It looked very tough at the start, but that is normal for Paarl. They also know how to bowl in the power play at home,” said Klaasen.

“The experience of Quinton and Jon Jon was evident, as they made sure they were completely in on that wicket before making the big play. That experience really counts.”