The Nelson Mandela Bay Giants crushed Faf du Plessis’ Paarl Rocks by 48 runs to lift the Giants to within one point of log-leaders the Cape Town Blitz.
The Giants won the toss and decided to bat first, scoring 168-9 off their 20 overs, Heino Kuhn top-scoring with an innovative 54 off 36 balls (5×4, 2×6, S/R 150.00), which included a number of reverse sweeps as well as one towering six on to the roof of the stand to earn him the Player of the Match award.
Marco Marais (20 off 10, 3×4, 1×6), JJ Smuts (21 off 16, 1×4, 1×6) and Christiaan Jonker (23 off 23, 2×4, 1×6) added their weight to what was a decent team total.
Dane Paterson (2-26, econ 6.50) and Bjorn Fortuin (2-33, econ 8.25) were the pick of the Rocks bowlers, with Paterson completing two run-outs off the final over of the innings.
The Rocks’ challenge never got off the ground, with four of their top five falling for single figures (three scores of seven and one score of six), while Aiden Markram played a lone hand upfront in scoring 50 of his side’s 79 runs before he was well caught in the deep.
David Wiese (18 off 16, 2×4) and Mangaliso Mosehle (15 off 16, 1×4) added 26 for the sixth wicket, but the Rocks lost their last five wickets for 15 runs in 3.5 overs as they were dismissed for 120 off 19.3 overs.
The Giants bowling was top-class, with Sisanda Magala (3-17, econ 4.85) and JJ Smuts (3-17, econ 5.66) both exceptional, backed up by Chris Morris (2-25, econ 8.33) and Imran Tahir (1-29, econ 7.25).
Photo: Michael Sheehan/Gallo Images
