SA20: There’s still hope for Super Giants, but Klaasen and Co need to find form

Durban’s Super Giants are bottom of the SA20 log, with just one win from six games for eight points, but they’re far from out of the mix of reaching the knockout rounds.

The thing is they’ve also picked up points from two rained out games, the last one being on Tuesday night at home in Durban (against MI Cape Town), and in fact have only lost three times.

And if the recent fightback by two-time champions, the Sunrisers Eastern Cape, is anything to go by then Keshav Maharaj and his Super Giants team-mates should not be despondent.

The Sunrisers lost their first three games, but have gone on to win their next three to climb the points table and get back into contention. That’s how quickly things can change. And that’s what the Super Giants need to keep in mind.

Need to win

With four games left to play before the playoffs, the Super Giants still have a chance of getting into position to feature in the knockouts, but they will probably need to win their remaining games and hope a few other results go their way. Also, they will need the weather gods to play along, too, especially with Thursday’s key match against the Paarl Royals, the current log leaders, their last at home this season.

After Thursday’s match in Durban, the Super Giants play in Cape Town on Saturday, Paarl on Monday and Joburg next Saturday.

So, there’s hope for the Super Giants to stage a late season comeback, but last year’s runners-up will have to find their mojo fast.

They’re a team packed with superstar players but they’ve struggled to score runs, with several experienced big-hitting players unable to make their mark this season, but their bowlers have at least performed substantially better.

Batting stars need to come good

Kane Williamson (107 runs) is their leading batter and he’s only in 12th place on the run-scorers list, while Quinton de Kock (95) and Wiaan Mulder (83) are the only other batters in the top 20.

Matthew Breetzke is 29th with 63 runs in six matches, while Jimmy Neesham is 30th with 61 runs from five matches.

Heinrich Klaasen is 37th on the run-scorers list having scored a paltry 38 runs from his four innings.
In the bowling department, Noor Ahmad is second on the wicket-takers list with eight wickets from his six matches, while fellow spinner and captain Maharaj is sixth on the list with six wickets from his six matches.

Chris Woakes (four wickets) and Naveen-ul-Haq Murid (four wickets) also feature in the top 20 at 13th and 16th.

First things first – DSG need to beat the high-quality Paarl Royals on Thursday.