Paarl Royals registered a hard-fought five-wicket victory over Durban's Super Giants in Durban to cement their position at the top of the SA20 Season 3 points table.
With 20 points in their kitty, the Royals are within touching distance of becoming the first team to qualify for the play-offs.
The Super Giants, meanwhile, remain rooted to the bottom of the table on eight points and face an uphill task to qualify for the playoffs with three league matches remaining. Lance Klusener's team can now reach a maximum of 23 points if they win each of their matches with a bonus point.
Thursday's match at the Kingsmead was a battle of Afghan spinners -- Royals' Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and Super Giants' Noor Ahmad.
Mujeeb produced another master-class of 2/23 to restrict the Super Giants to 142/7. It was a superb effort considering that DSG powered out of the starting blocks through a 62-run opening stand between Matthew Breetzke (25) and Quinton de Kock (43).
De Kock's promotion to the top of the order paid dividends, but he holed out to deep long-off against Mujeeb just when it seemed that he was hitting his stride.
Mujeeb also removed the dangerous Heinrich Klaasen for two as the Royals tightened the screws in the middle overs.
All-rounders Wiaan Mulder (24) and Jon-Jon Smuts (32) attempted a rebuilding job, but the momentum had already shifted towards the Royals.
They were even able to absorb the early loss of Joe Root with SA20 rising star Lhuan-dre Pretorius belting another rapid 25 off 13 balls (4x4).
The Super Giants turned to Noor Ahmad to replicate his compatriot Mujeeb's heroics.
Rubin Hermann once again proved to be the find of the competition for the Royals with a 44-run blitz off just 22 balls to spearhead the run chase.
Noor produced arguably the ball of the competition to clean bowl the well-set Hermann.
Unfortunately for the Super Giants, it was the only success for Noor on the night.
Mitchell van Buuren played anchor with a composed 44 that took the Royals to the brink of victory.
The Royals can now look forward to their clash against the Pretoria Capitals on Saturday at Boland Park with confidence, while the Super Giants will need to regroup quickly ahead of their trip to Newlands to face MI Cape Town.
© 2025