Joburg Super Kings owed their opening win in the SA20 in large part to Romario Shepherd’s 19-ball cameo as they beat Jason Holder’s Durban Super Giants by 16 runs here yesterday.
They were in full voice early on when the home team reduced Joburg Super Kings to 27/4.
Fellow homegrown product Prenelan Subrayen (2/26) and Sri Lankan spin maestro Akila Dananjaya (1/39) joined the party soon after.
But it was from here onwards that the Super Kings regained a foothold in the contest with captain Faf du Plessis (39) holding it all together before Donavon Ferreira was unleashed.
Player of the match, Ferreira, lived up to his pre-match billing with a blistering 82 off just 40 balls, and along with Romario Shepherd (40 off 19 balls) powered the Super Kings to 190/6 as the Super Giants lost their way at the backend.
The Kingsmead crowd never lost its voice at all though and were back on their feet supporting their team when Quinton de Kock and West Indian Kyle Mayers raced out of the blocks.
The Super Giants opening pair dominated the Powerplay and took it all the way to the 11th over before Mayers was dismissed for 39 leaving the home team on 98/1.
De Kock was central to the Super Giants getting close, but he did not receive sufficient support from Heinrich Klaasen (20), Wiaan Mulder (10), Dwaine Pretorius (14) and Jason Holder (2 not out).
The skipper eventually fell for 78 and walked back to the dressing room with the Super Giants’ chances unfortunately as they ultimately fell agonizingly short on a memorable night at Kingsmead.