Midway through their defence in the second innings, it looked like the Joburg Super Kings might be dead and buried, but the visitors kept up the fight, ultimately securing a 16-run victory over Durban’s Super Giants in their SA20 clash in Durban on Wednesday night.
Chasing 191 runs for victory, the Super Giants got off to a superb start in front of their home crowd, with openers Quinton de Kock and Kyle Mayers of the West Indies sharing a 98-run partnership.
Mayers was eventually caught behind by Kyle Verreynne off spinner Aaron Phangiso for 36 runs, breaking the stand in the 11th over
De Kock was then caught and bowled by all-rounder Donovan Ferreira three overs later, falling for 78 off 52 balls at a strike rate of 150, having smashed five fours and five sixes.
Once De Kock departed, however, the hosts were well restricted and struggled to keep up the pace as the miserly Super Kings bowling attack restricted them to 174/5.
West Indian pace bowler Alzarri Joseph returned figures of 2/30, while Reeza Hendricks played a key role, giving away just 14 runs from his four overs.
Earlier, Ferreira had launched a recovery effort for the Super Kings after an early collapse in their innings.
The Joburg side lost four wickets for 27 runs but veteran Faf du Plessis knocked 39 off 33 balls before Mayers had him caught by Sri Lankan player Akila Dananjaya.
Ferreira then stepped up the pace, racing to an unbeaten 82 off just 40 balls, including eight fours and five sixes, at a strike rate of 205.
West Indian middle-order batter Romario Shepherd also contributed a quickfire 40 off 19 deliveries with two fours and twice as many sixes.
The Super Kings closed out their innings at 190/6, and it turned out to be sufficient as they picked up their first victory of the inaugural T20 competition.
Super Giants spin bowler Keshav Maharaj did well to restrict the visitors in the early stages of their innings, picking up 1/23 from his four overs, while Prenelan Subrayen returned 2/26.
