Raza seals dramatic win for Royals

Sikandar Raza climbed deeper into the hearts of the Paarl Royals faithful when the Zimbabwean international struck a six off the final ball to clinch a six-wicket victory over Durban's Super Giants at Boland Park on Tuesday evening.

Royals required six runs off David Wiese’s final over and the equation was reduced to two runs off the last delivery, when Raza held his nerve in this Betway SA20 clutch moment to send the Royals fans into a state of delirium.

It also saw the Royals close out a highest record chase at Boland Park after DSG had posted an imposing 186/5.

Raza finished on 27 not out (13 balls, 2x4, 2x6) but Royals had plenty of heroes on this dramatic night with Rubin Hermann (65 not out, 45 balls, 3x4, 3x6) and Dan Lawrence (63 off 41 balls, 2x4, 4x6) striking vital half-centuries to keep the chase afloat.

The third-wicket partnership between Hermann and Lawrence was pivotal with the pair adding 106 runs off only 61 balls.

Lawrence was particularly severe on DSG’s spinners, smashing Simon Harmer for six along with taking a boundary and six off Liam Livingstone, to inject momentum into the innings.

It contrasted with Royals’ ace Afghanistan mystery spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman delivering an economical spell of 2/22 amidst the onslaught from DSG’s power-packed batting unit.

The four Player of the Match candidates were Hermann, Lawrence, Livingstone and Aiden Makram with Hermann winning 45% of the fan vote.

Captain Markram led the charge with 66 off 46 balls (2x4, 3x6) before Livingstone (32 not out off 10 balls, 1x4, 4x6) and Heinrich Klaasen (29 off 18 balls, 2x4, 2x6) unleashed their power-hitting skills at the backend of the innings.

But ultimately it was not enough with the Royals moving up to second place on 19 points with their superior number of victories edging out Sunrisers into third position.

Super Giants, meanwhile, remain in fifth place on 14 points and face a must-win final round-robin match against the Royals at Kingsmead on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Joburg Super Kings have suffered a major blow heading into the business end of the Betway SA20 season with captain Faf du Plessis ruled out due to injury.

Du Plessis is an instrumental part of JSK’s team with his runs and leadership credentials holding equal weight.

But the 41-year-old unfortunately suffered a thumb injury while diving against MI Cape Town at the Wanderers in Game 21. Donovan Ferreira has been named stand-in captain for the rest of Season 4.

After last season's fast bowling injury woes, it seems that the batters are now being struck down after Rilee Rossouw was also ruled out earlier.

Super Kings will, however, welcome a familiar face in top-order batter Leus du Plooy for the remainder of the campaign.

The left-hander was part of JSK’s squad for the first three seasons and is second only to Du Plessis (1 029) on the list of Super Kings all-time run-scorers, with 743 runs at an average of 39.10 and strike-rate of 141.79.

He has struck 71 boundaries and 28 sixes.

Du Plooy will need to hit the ground running with JSK facing a crucial tie in the race for the playoffs against Sunrisers Eastern Cape at St George’s Park on Wednesday.

They will then head back to the Wanderers for the Jukskei derby against Pretoria Capitals before returning to the Western Cape for their final round-robin clash against Paarl Royals at Boland Park.

Super Kings currently have 17 points and are in fourth position on the Betway SA20 table.