Jos Buttler and Lungi Ngidi steered the Paarl Royals to a seven-wicket bonus point victory over Joburg Super Kings (JSK) at Boland Park on Wednesday evening. <\/p>\n
The Royals maintained their 100% record with their third consecutive victory, while JSK remain winless after four matches. <\/p>\n
Unlike in previous matches at Boland Park where the spinners have dominated, it was the Royals\u2019 seamers that set up the win. <\/p>\n
Obed McCoy (2\/31) set the Royals in motion by removing Reeza Hendricks, before the impressive Ngidi got into the act in the final over of the Power Play.<\/p>\n
The competition\u2019s leading wicket-taker pegged back the men in yellow with wickets off successive balls when he clean-bowled Faf du Plessis (9) before having debutant Wayne Madsen caught by Mitchell van Buuren at third man for a first-ball duck. <\/p>\n
Ngidi (3\/17) failed to claim the first hat-trick of the competition when Moeen Ali defended the next ball, but returned at the death to claim his third wicket of the evening. <\/p>\n
JSK also suffered three run outs, including that of top-scorer Leus du Plooy (71 off 43 balls) to be dismissed for 134. <\/p>\n
Royals wicket-keeper, Buttler, was pivotal to the run-outs as he threw down the stumps on two occasions with the visitors looking to steal a single. <\/p>\n
The Royals\u2019 run-chase was never in danger with Buttler masterminding the chase superbly with an undefeated 70 off 37 balls (8×4, 3×6). <\/p>\n
The England skipper, who was the competition\u2019s leading run-scorer and Batter of the Season in Season 1, looked in ominous form ahead of the weekend\u2019s Cape Derbies against MI Cape Town.<\/p>\n
Wihan Lubbe provided support with a 30-ball 39 before veteran leg-spinner Imran Tahir trapped him LBW.<\/p>\n
It, however, proved to be a mere consolation for the visitors as they now look to turn their season around in the Jukskei Derby against Pretoria Capitals at the Wanderers on Saturday.<\/p>\n
image:Jos Buttler of Paarl Royals celebrates his half century, photographer Nic Bothma<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"