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Lhuan-dre Pretorius starred with the bat with last season's leading run-scorer coming to the fore when it mattered most, as the Paarl Royals defeated Joburg Super Kings by 36 runs in the eliminator of SA20 season 4.
On Thursday, the powerful left-hander put a disappointing second season behind him with a 34-ball 51 that formed the bedrock of the Royals' imposing 210/5. His knock consisted of two fours and five sixes. The rest of the Royals batters all chipped in from opener Kyle Verreynne (30 off 15 balls, with four boundaries and a six) through to Dan Lawrence (36 off 23 balls, two fours and three sixes), Sikandar Raza (35 off 19 balls, with two fours and three sixes) and Asa Tribe (30* not out off 16 balls, with three fours and a six), as per a press release from SA20. Joburg Super Kings run-chase never left the starting blocks with 36-year-old fast bowler Hardus Viljoen turning back the clock to send down a rasping opening spell. Viljoen (3/24) hurried up all the JSK batters with his pace to send Neil Timmers (8) and Matthew de Villiers (0) back to the pavilion within the powerplay. JSK certainly missed the experience of their injured captain, Faf du Plessis and Rilee Rossouw during this period, as left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin and the competition's leading wicket-taker Ottneil Baartman also chipped in with a wicket apiece to reduce Super Kings to 40/4. Stand-in captain James Vince (47 in 29 balls, with five fours and two sixes) and Wiaan Mulder attempted to rebuild JSK's innings with a 58-run partnership for the fifth wicket. It was brought to a close by another impressive Royals teenager, Nqobani Mokoena (1/31), who outsmarted Vince with an excellent slower ball to clean bowl the Englishman. Mulder (41 off 27 balls, with four boundaries and a six) attempted to keep the dwindling JSK flame flickering, but he too was outdone by the brilliance of Baartman (2/47 in four overs), who ended all hopes. The Royals now travel down the NI1 South to the Wanderers to face Sunrisers Eastern Cape in Qualifier 2 on Friday evening. The winner will have the prized opportunity to head down to Cape Town to face Pretoria Capitals in Sunday's grand Final at Newlands. (ANI)
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