Sturdy du Plooy takes Super Kings over the line in low-scoring thriller
Aaron Phangiso took 4/20 (Source Twitter)
A dominant bowling performance, followed by a gritty innings from Leus du Plooy helped Joburg Super Kings to beat Sunrisers Eastern Cape in Match 17 of the ongoing SA20 League.
Phangiso spun Sunrisers away
Put into bat, Sunrisers got off to a shaky start as they could only manage 45 for the loss of two wickets in the first six overs. Immediately following the powerplay Super Kings got rid of in-form Aiden Markram and Sunrisers found themselves in a middle menace.
Skipper Faf du Plessis introduced Aaron Phangiso into the attack, which further derailed the Sunrisers’ innings to six for 62 at the end of ten overs. The men in orange could not get themselves back in the innings and got bowled out for just 127 at the end.
Phangiso was the pick of the bowlers for JSK, who removed the likes of Rossington, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen and went on to take his second 4-fer in this tournament. Gerald Coetzee also bowled well towards the end of the innings and bagged four wickets.
Leus du Plooy held his nerves
Chasing a paltry 127, Super Kings got off to a slow start as they were 31 for five in the first over. However, a 16-run over against James Fuller propels them to 47 for one at the end of the powerplay and the asking rate got below. It should have been a walk in the park for the Super Kings after the powerplay but captain Markram introduced spin, which stopped the flow of runs and put the pressure back on JSK.
Leus du Plooy, batting at four, showed great resistance and kept the scoreboard going. With 25 needed off 18, du Plooy extracted a 12-run over and the men in yellow seemed to be cruising towards the victory.
But van der Merwe stepped up, who bowled a brilliant penultimate over, leaving eight runs for Sisanda Magala, who bowled an excellent first three deliveries of the last over but unfortunately overstepped while bowling the fifth ball and du Plooy hit a boundary to take his side home with one ball to spare.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Eastern Cape: 127/10 (18.4)
Adam Rossington 40 (31), James Fuller 27 (20);
Aaron Phangiso 4-20 (4), Gerald Coetzee 4-24 (3.4)
Joburg Super Kings: 128/5 (19.4)
Leus du Plooy* 47 (40), Faf du Plessis 37 (38);
Roelof van der Merwe 2-16 (4), JJ Smuts 1-8 (3)
Joburg Super Kings won by 5 wickets
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