• Ruthless Royals eliminate JSK

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    A blistering half-century from Lhuan-dre Pretorius helped fire the Paarl Royals past the Joburg Super Kings into the second SA20 qualifier playoff.

    Last season’s leading run-scorer came to the fore when it mattered most this season as the Royals defeated JSK by 36 runs.

    The powerful left-hander struck a 34-ball 51 that formed the bedrock of Royals’ imposing 210-5.

    The rest of the Royals batsmen all chipped in, from opener Kyle Verreynne (30 off 15 balls) through to Dan Lawrence (36 off 23), Sikandar Raza (35 off 19) and Asa Tribe (30* off 16).

    The 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 batsmen with his pace to send Neil Timmers and Matthew de Villiers back to the pavilion within the powerplay.

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    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 the Super Kings to 40-4.

    Stand-in captain James Vince 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, who outsmarted Vince with an excellent slower ball to clean bowl the Englishman. Mulder (41 off 27 balls) attempted to keep the dwindling JSK flame flickering, but he too was outdone by the brilliance of Baartman than ended all hopes.

    The Royals now travel down the NI1 South to the Wanderers to face the Sunrisers Eastern Cape on Friday.

    The winner will head down to Cape Town to face the Pretoria Capitals in Sunday’s final at Newlands.

    Photo: Shaun Roy / Sportzpics for SA20

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    Dylan Johnson