In-form Hendricks puts Giants bowlers to sword
Reeza Hendricks clubbed a superb hundred as the Jozi Stars beat the Nelson Mandela Bay Giants by 81 runs in their Mzansi Super League cricket match at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth on Sunday.
Hendricks was in imperious form as he put the Giants bowlers to the sword in making 108 not out to hand the NMB Giants only their second defeat of the tournament.
Set a daunting 174 to win after some sub-standard bowling, the Giants lost early wickets and could only reply with a meagre 92.
Hendricks was the mainstay of the Stars’ innings of 173 for three wickets, scoring his runs off a mere 62 balls while striking 10 fours and five sixes.
It was his second consecutive hundred in the competition after an unbeaten 104 against the struggling Durban Heat in Johannesburg on Friday. He is now the competition’s leading run-scorer with 267 from four innings.
It was a poor day at the office for Jon-Jon Smuts’s team but they are still very much alive in the tournament and still occupy second position behind the Cape Town Blitz.
They have three pool matches remaining from which to qualify for the second and third place eliminator.
Their innings struggled from the start with both Marco Marais (2) and Smuts (10) losing their wickets by the time the total reached 13 in the fifth over.
Heino Kuhn (12) and Christiaan Jonker (0) followed off consecutive deliveries bowled by Dwaine Pretorius and when Ben Duckett was dismissed by offspinner Simon Harmer for 11, the writing was on the wall at 39 for five.
Pretorius took three for 17 while Kagiso Rabada claimed an amazing two for eight in four overs.
In the early game on Sunday, an unbeaten half-century by Faf du Plessis helped the Paarl Rocks brush aside Durban Heat with a clinical ninewicket victory at Boland Park.
The home captain smashed a dominant 76 off 48 balls (nine fours) as his side chased down their 155-run victory target at a measured tempo with five balls to spare.
Du Plessis had good support from Aiden Markram (48) and Vaughn van Jaarsveld (28 not out).
The Durban Heat made the bold move of dropping out-ofform marquee signing Hashim Amla and it looked a good move initially as replacement Sarel Erwee struck 32 off 22 in an opening stand of 65 with Morne van Wyk (33) in seven overs. But it mainly went south from there as wickets began to tumble regularly.
The Durbanites then had to heavily rely on Khaya Zondo’s unbeaten 38, which came from a relatively slow 34 balls.
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