Markram ton keeps DSG's playoffs hopes alive

Aiden Markram smashed his second SA20 ton to lead Durban's Super Giants to a dominant win over Paarl Royals to keep their playoff hopes alive. Markram's ton, that included a 28-run over off Sikandar Raza, saw DSG post 189/7 before their bowlers came up with a comprehensive performance as the Royals fell well short by 58 runs.

DSG's innings received a massive jolt very early in the game. Sunil Narine smashed the first ball of the match for a boundary before departing next ball and Jos Buttler was castled by Hardus Viljoen in the second over to leave DSG reeling at 9/2. Kane Williamson and Markram then broke free by finding the boundary four times in the space of seven deliveries before the skipper rounded off the PowerPlay in positive fashion with another boundary.

Williamson's poor tournament continued though as he failed to make a substantial contribution yet again and departed for a 20-ball 22. At the halfway mark, Markram switched gears and hit a six off Raza and Ottneil Baartman enroute his half-century and Heinrich Klaasen started to get into his zone as well. The two batters then continued to make merry before Viljoen returned to bag the big wicket of Klaasen with almost five overs left in the innings.

Liam Livingstone departed after hammering a couple of sixes before Markram absolutely went berserk against Raza in the penultimate over. Markram went 6, 4, 6, 6, 4, 2 against the Zimbabwe veteran to bring up a stunning century and give his team a big finish. Kyle Verreynne then attempted to give his side a positive start in the run chase by racing to 22 off just 14 deliveries but Narine found the gap between bat and pad to disturb timber. Royals had a stuttering powerplay in which they made only 36 runs and the runs continued to dry up with the spinners operating in tandem.

Williamson took a stunning diving catch to see the back of Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Livingstone got into the attack to dismiss Rubin Hermann. At 55/3 after 10 overs, Royals needed a monumental second half to mount a challenge. The task only became tougher after Simon Harmer closed out his excellent spell with the key wicket of David Miller to finish with figures of 1/13. Two more wickets fell in the next two overs as the chase completely fizzled out. If not for a cameo from Bjorn Fortuin in which he made an unbeaten 35, Royals would have struggled to breach the three-figure mark.

Brief scores: Durban's Super Giants 189/7 in 20 overs (Aiden Markram 108; Hardus Viljoen 4/21) beat Paarl Royals 131/9 in 20 overs (Bjorn Fortuin 35*; Sunil Narine 2/18) by 58 runs