Durban's Super Giants players acknowledge their home crowd after beating the Pretoria Capitals at Kingsmead. Picture: SA20
Captain Keshav Maharaj has praised his Durban’s Super Giants team for their all-round effort in the league stage of the SA20 competition, after they stretched their lead at the top of the standings.
The log leaders defeated strugglers Pretoria Capitals by eight runs at Kingsmead, further establishing themselves as the form team in the build-up to the playoffs.
Batting first, the Super Giants made 174/9, anchored by opener Matthew Breetzke who bashed 73 runs off 46 balls.
In response, the Capitals were restricted to 166/9, with seam bowler Junior Dala leading the home side’s attack by returning career-best figures of 5/26.
While the Durban outfit’s attack gave away 25 extras during the opposition’s innings, they did well enough to carry their team across the line.
“In the back end it got close but we controlled it well in the middle – Noor (Ahmad), Naveen (ul-Haq) and Junior Dala gave us that cushion at the back end,” Maharaj said after the game.
“It’s a pleasing sign that everyone is standing up when needed. Hopefully we can go all the way in the competition.”
While the Capitals remained in fifth place in the league standings, they were still in the hunt for a playoff spot, locked in a tight battle in the bottom half of the table.
Despite being handed their fifth defeat in eight matches, captain Wayne Parnell believed they had the ability to close out the first round in style, with two games to play before the knockout stages.
“I still feel after the start they (Super Giants) had, probably 230-240 was on, so to restrict them to 174 was great, but we needed one big partnership in our chase,” Parnell said.
“We have lost crucial moments in various games but there is still a lot to play for. We have two more games to go and we will see where we are after that.”
The Capitals will face MI Cape town in their penultimate match of the league stage in Centurion today.
The Super Giants will play their last game before the playoffs on Saturday when they take on Joburg Super Kings at the Wanderers.
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