The round robin stage of the SA20 season is now done, with just the play-offs to be contested over the coming days.
The Joburg Super Kings beat Paarl Royals by 45 runs in Paarl on Monday night, in the final round robin game of this season’s SA20 competition, to qualify for the play-offs later this week.
Coach Stephen Fleming’s side were top of the log at one stage this season, but they had to beat Paarl on Monday to sneak into fourth place on the log, which they did so in style.
JSK, who’ve lost key players Rilee Rossouw, Faf du Plessis and Donovan Ferreira throughout the campaign because of injury, finished fourth on the log with 22 points after Monday’s match.
Asked to chase down 167 for a win, Paarl were bundled out for 122. Only Dan Lawrence (45 off 29) really troubled the visitors’ bowlers, though Lhuan-dre Pretorius (32) threatened to go big.
Paarl captain David Miller didn’t bat after picking up an injury in the field and there will be concerns about his fitness and availability for the play-offs and the Proteas’ T20 World Cup, starting next month in India and Sri Lanka.
For JSK, Imran Tahir took 2/27 in four, Prenelan Subrayen 3/14 in 3.1, and Nandre Burger 2/29 in four while Akeal Hosein and Wiaan Mulder also took a wicket each.
JSK’s win eliminated Durban’s Super Giants (fifth with 19 points) from the competition, while MI Cape Town finished sixth with 14 points.
Sunrisers finished top on 28, followed by Pretoria Capitals (24), Paarl Royals (24) and the Super Kings (21).
In the first qualifier on Wednesday, the Sunrisers will face the Capitals in Durban, while in Thursday’s eliminator the Royals and Super Kings will meet again in Centurion.
Earlier, JSK, after winning the toss and electing to bat first, scored 166/5 in their 20 overs, with the biggest contribution coming from middle order batter Leus du Plooy, who scored 54 not out from 27 balls.
There were other good contributions from opener Neil Timmers (39), Michael Pepper (27) and Matthew de Villiers (27).
Waqar Salamkheil (2/42) was JSK’s most successful bowler, though Bjorn Fortuin, Nqobani Mokoena and Sikandar Raza each picked up a wicket.
