Du Plooy, spinners take Joburg Super Kings into playoffs

Joburg Super Kings snuck into the SA20 playoffs with a 45-win over Paarl Royals in Boland in the last league match of the competition, and dumped Durban's Super Giants out in the process. JSK qualified in fourth place and will play Royals in the Eliminator in Centurion on Thursday. The winner will progress to Qualifier 2 in Johannesburg on Friday.

Qualifier 1 will be played between two-time champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Pretoria Capitals on Wednesday.

More worrying for Royals than the result of the match is the unavailability of their captain David Miller, who suffered a lower limb injury scare in the JSK innings; he did not bat. Miller's situation will also be a concern for South Africa, who begin their T20 World Cup campaign in three weeks' time in Ahmedabad. South Africa are already likely to be without JSK stand-in captain Donovan Ferreira, who has a fractured shoulder.

On a slow, low wicket, JSK chose to bat first and recovered from 74 for 3 in the 11th over to total 166 for 5. Leus du Plooy's unbeaten 54 off 27 balls was the highest of the innings. Royals were faring well on 81 for 2 in the 12th over but lost 7 for 41 to finish third on the table. Spinners Prenelan Subrayen and Imran Tahir took five wickets for 31 runs in 7.1 overs between them.

Joburg Super Kings have their third skipper of the season after Faf du Plessis and Donovan Ferreira were both ruled out through injury. Vince was bowled second ball by left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin as he backed away to cut through the offside. Then, it was up to Neil Timmers and Michael Pepper to recover. Timmers, a 21-year old and a left-handed keeper-batter, came into the XI and got his first boundary off 19-year old Nqobani Mokoena. He went on to collect four fours, sharing a 49-run stand with Michael Pepper for the second wicket, and took JSK to 74 for three in the 11th over.

Wiaan Mulder started the competition with 43 off 28 balls, but things haven't gone well for him since then. That remains his only score over 20 of the tournament so far. Things got no better for him in this match. He was at the crease in the 17th over, which gave him little time to make an impact. His fourth ball went for four but there wasn't much else off his bat. Mulder was done in by a Mokoena slower ball and bowled when he swiped across the line, playing the shot too early. He was Mokoena's only wicket of the night, which took Mokoena to fifth on the bowling charts.

It's also been a tough competition for last year's leading run-scorer Lhuan-dre Pretorius, who has only had one score of substance - his 98* against MICT - so far. But he took control early on, when he hit the fourth ball of the innings through mid-off, off Akeal Hosein. He went on to flick Mulder through midwicket, send Prenelan Subrayen in the same direction, and hit Nandre Burger through mid-on to end the powerplay on 43 for 1. Pretorius was dismissed soon after the restrictions were lifted, when he was caught behind off Tahir, to leave Royals at 46 for 2 in the seventh over.

Age is nothing but a number. If there is one person who embodies it, it's Tahir. Playing in just his second match of this SA20, and after removing Pretorius for 32, Tahir produced a classic to dismiss Delano Potgieter for 1 in the 13th over. Tahir pitched it on middle and leg, kept Potgieter on the back foot and hit him on the back pad. As Tahir did his trademark Siuuu celebration, Potgieter reviewed. However, ball-tracking confirmed that the ball was going on to hit the stumps and Royals were 82 for 4 in the 13th over, needing 85 to win off 47 balls.