Paarl Royals confident of maintaining fine form in the hunt for SA20 playoffs

Having stood out thus far, the Paarl Royals are confident of carrying their impressive form all the way through to the SA20 knockout stages, according to top-order batter Rubin Hermann.

One of the surprise packages of the tournament, Hermann again played a key role in the Royals’ five-wicket victory over Durban’s Super Giants on Thursday, top-scoring with a quickfire 44 runs off 22 balls.

With their fifth win in six matches, the Royals climbed four points clear of second-placed MI Cape Town.

Hermann conceded, however, that as well as they had played, the Paarl outfit needed to continue delivering at the back end of the league campaign.

Gelling as a unit

“This is really where we have to show what we’re capable of, coming into the latter half of the tournament,” Hermann said.

“But I think we’ve really gelled well as a group and we’ve just played good cricket, so that’s what we’re going to try to continue to do.

“We’ve really got a bunch of awesome guys in the changeroom, and coach TP (Trevor Penney) really drives that as well, so I think just the way we gel together gives us an edge, and I think it will continue to stand us in good stead going forward.”

Super Giants still fighting

Meanwhile, Super Giants coach Lance Klusener remained hopeful that his team could turn things around.

With only one win from seven matches (two of their games were rained out), the Durban side were lying bottom of the standings, and they needed to win their last three league matches to stay in the hunt for the playoffs.

“I think we’ve got a group of very good players who just haven’t really found their form, unfortunately,” Klusener said.

“But that’s cricket sometimes, and rather than dwelling on the past, we’ve got an opportunity ahead of us (to fight back)… and that’s pretty much all we’re interested in at the moment.

“I think with the quality we have in that dressing room, it will just take someone to light the fire and get them going.”

The Royals will face Pretoria Capitals in Paarl on Saturday afternoon (1pm start), while the Super Giants are up against MI Cape Town at Newlands on Saturday (5.30pm).