‘Credit goes to the whole unit’: Lubbe praises Royals teammates

Though he played a key role in their latest win, Paarl Royals batter Wihan Lubbe refused to take all the credit and was full of praise for his teammates as they stretched their lead at the top of the SA20 standings.

Lubbe made 57 runs off 48 balls, sharing a match-winning 95-run stand with Dane Vilas (42 off 26) for the fourth wicket and guiding the visitors to a five-wicket victory over the Joburg Super Kings at the Wanderers on Wednesday night.

Set a target of 169 to win, the Royals reached 170/5 with six balls to spare, and Lubbe admitted Vilas had been fundamental to their cause by lifting the run-rate with his quickfire knock.

“A lot of credit has to go to Dane for the intensity he came out with,” said Lubbe.

“The conversations we had in the middle and his calming presence helped me a lot.”

All-round effort

While the Super Kings remained stranded in fifth position with four games left in the opening round, the high-flying Royals moved four points clear at the top of the log.

Lubbe felt the entire squad had contributed to their impressive string of results, with the Paarl side having secured five wins from six games in the popular T20 competition.

“The bowlers have been brilliant the last few games. We don’t bowl many extras, which is helpful,” Lubbe said.

“And one of the things we spoke about early in the competition was that if you look around our changeroom, we should be the best fielding team out there, and I think for most of the tournament we’ve stuck to that.

“There will always be blunders but I think the effort is to be better than the opposition we’re playing on the night, and for the most part we’ve been successful at that, so I think credit goes to the whole unit.”

The Royals are back in action against Durban’s Super Giants in Paarl on Friday, as they look to strengthen their grip at the top of the standings, and the Super Kings will be desperate to secure some crucial points when they face the Pretoria Capitals in a Gauteng derby in Centurion on Saturday.