Johannesburg — Teams can do all the research and analyse all the data they can lay their hands on. But deep in their hearts they must know that when they confront a force of nature like Quinton de Kock all plans are rendered meaningless.
De Kock, who came in at No 3 instead of his regular opening slot, toyed with the Paarl Royals on another glorious afternoon at Kingsmead as Durban’s Super Giants won their second consecutive match on Sunday.
He swept, reverse-swept, and bludgeoned 57 off 31 balls to set up the Super Giants’ mammoth 216/4.
It wasn't entirely the De Kock show though.
West Indian Kyle Mayers (39 off 23 balls) and Wiaan Mulder (42 off 33 balls) set the tone upfront with a 62-run opening stand in just 6.5 overs.
Mayers has certainly taken a liking to the West Street Stand since arriving in Durban as the left-hander deposited yet another towering six in that direction.
Mulder also enjoyed his promotion to the top of the order with his most free-flowing innings of the tournament.
But all of this was only the prelude to the late-innings whirlwind from Heinrich Klaasen. The Proteas batter let out all his frustrations from the recent Australian Test tour by striking the tournament’s fastest half-century off just 19 balls, which included three successive sixes off Ferisco Adams’ final over of the innings.
Evan Jones and Lungi Ngidi tried their utmost to halt the carnage for the Royals as they finished with the identical figures of 2/33.
The Royals’ only hope of getting close to the joint-highest total of the tournament was for their top-order to match the Super Giants, with their English opening partnership of Jos Buttler and Jason Roy to light the fire.
But instead it was slow-burning embers with Buttler being dislodged early by his England teammate Reece Topley for just two.
A double-strike from Dwaine Pretorius when he removed both Wihan Lubbe and the big wicket of Royals skipper David Miller in quick succession entrenched the Super Giants’ dominance.
And when Roy fell for 33 to the spin of Prenelan Subrayen it left plenty for the remaining Royals batting unit to do.
Eoin Morgan tried valiantly to keep the Royals’ run-chase alive with a defiant 64 off 37 balls, but the former England World Cup-winning captain and Dane Vilas (44) could not pull off the impossible despite their record 114-run partnership.
The Royals won’t have to wait long for a chance to avenge their Kingsmead defeat as the Super Giants head to Boland Park Tuesday for a rematch.
SCORECARD
Durban Super Giants: 216/4 (De Kock 57, Klaasen 50*, Mulder 42, Mayers 39, Ngidi 2/33, Ngidi 2/33)
Paarl Royals: 189/8 (Morgan 64, Vilas 44, Roy 33, Pretorius 2/34)
Super Giants won by 27 runs
IOL Sport