Rising star Pretorius carries Royals to victory over Sunrisers in SA20 clash

Teenager Lhuan-dre Pretorius delivered in spectacular fashion on Saturday, guiding the Paarl Royals to victory over defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape in their SA20 match at Boland Park.

Pretorius bashed 97 runs off 51 balls, and while the 18-year-old opener fell narrowly short of his first T20 century, he did enough to carry his team to a nine-wicket win with eight balls to spare.

He was well supported by England international Joe Root, with the duo combining in a 132-run stand for the first wicket before Pretorius was trapped leg-before by seamer Marco Jansen in the 13th over of the Royals innings.

Once he was dismissed, the hosts were carried home by Root (62 not out) and captain David Miller (17 not out) who shared an unbroken 44-run stand for the second wicket as the Paarl outfit reached 176/1 in the penultimate over of their innings.

“I’m just glad we got over the line. Batting with Root, he calmed me down. I’m just lost for words,” Pretorius said after the match.

Sunrisers innings

Earlier, after winning the toss and choosing to bat, the Sunrisers were anchored by captain Aiden Markram who hit 82 runs off 49 balls, compiling his 25th T20 half-century as he guided his team to 175/5.

Spearheaded by their spin attack, the Royals bowlers were led by Mujeeb Ur Rahman who took 2/27, and while Bjorn Fortuin did not take any wickets, he did well to restrict the opposition to 24 runs in his four overs. Junior fast bowler Kwena Maphaka also got in on the action, returning 2/35.

Though the Royals won their opening match of the SA20 league, the Sunrisers were handed their second defeat after falling to MI Cape Town in their campaign opener two days earlier.