Lhuan-dre Pretorius leads Paarl Royals to victory over MI Cape Town

Another impressive innings by 18-year-old Lhaun-dre Pretorius guided the Paarl Royals to a six-wicket victory against neighbours, MI Cape Town, in a SA20 game in Paarl on Wednesday night.

Pretorius, who received his matric results two days ago, hit a brilliant 83 off 52 balls, with eight fours and three sixes, to help his side reach their target of 159 with six balls to spare.

The powerful left-hander also scored 97 at the Paarl venue in his team’s opening game of the competition last weekend.

Run outs

It was sweet revenge for David Miller and his Paarl team after they were well beaten by MI Cape Town on Monday in Cape Town. On that occasion, the home team won by 33 runs.

Besides Pretorius’ stunning knock, Joe Root hit 15 off 15, Mitchell van Buuren scored 22 off 20 and Miller finished things off with a classy 24 off 20. Dinesh Karthik also hit a quick-fire 10 off six balls close to the end.

While it was a convincing win in the end, there would have been some nervy moments in the Royals’ dressing room when Pretorius was run out on 83, after he and Miller had set off for an ill-fated second run, and the Royals needing 23 off 18 balls to win.

Rashid Khan has exacted the direct hit from the deep and moments later Karthik was also run out after some excellent fielding by wicket-keeper Connor Esterhuizen, but Miller stabilised things with some good late hitting.

The Royals are now third in the standings, while MI Cape Town remain top of the pile, but they’ve played four games to most team’s three.

Rassie van der Dussen in form

Earlier, the team from Cape Town posted 158/4 in their 20 overs with veteran batter Rassie van der Dussen hitting an outstanding 91 not out off 64 balls, with five fours and five sixes.

The 35-year-old was the mainstay of the batting, with No 3 Reeza Hendricks the only other batter to get stuck in, scoring a good 30 from 27 balls.

Mujeeb ur Rahman was the pick f the home team’s bowlers with 2/27 from four overs while Dayyaan Galiem and Joe Root each picked up a wicket.