(Cricket news) Quinton De Cock, the star South African batter shines as the Durban Super Giants registered a dominating win over the Paarl Royals to secure a spot at the top of the table. Super Giants inflicted a resounding 57-run win over the Royals in the 19th match of the ongoing SA20.

Opting to bat, Super Giants were spooked early on, they were reduced to 24/2 inside the first 4 overs. Quinton De Cock then joined hands with JJ Smuts to steady the ship and stitched a match-defining 118-run partnership. Initially, Smuts scored some boundaries to relieve some of the pressure, while de Kock was happy to play cautious cricket.

The Super Giants were only down to 69 runs at the halfway point, but then De Cock broke free smashing some sixes before cutting loose against Andile Phehlukwayo to smash him for 4,6,4,6 that also brought up his fifty. Smuts too completed his fifty at the other hand before he was dismissed by Lungi Ngidi.

While De Cock continued playing his shots and smashing the bowlers , a late burst from Heinrich Klaasen (30 off 9) powered the Super Giants to a very good score of 190 in their 20 overs.

Chasing a huge score, Royals got off to a flier smashing 24 runs from the first two overs but things turned downhill after Smuts got Jason Roy bowled in his first over. They never looked settled and kept losing wickets in frequent intervals. Marcus Stoinis got into the act as well as he rounded off the powerplay with a wicket.

Jos Buttler fought a lone battle with a gritty knock of 46, while the rest of the batters failed to get going. Noor Ahmed got rid of the dangerous David Miller and Keshav Maharaj accounted for the big wicket of Buttler. The Royals pretty much needed a miracle from thereon having lost their important batters. That miracle didn’t arrive as they collapsed to get bowled out for just 133.

Brief scores: Durban Super Giants 190/3 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 83*, JJ Smuts 52) Paarl Royals 133 in 19.3 overs (Jos Buttler 45; Marcus Stoinis 3/24, Keshav Maharaj 2/24)

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