Giants too strong for Jozi Stars at Wanderers

Despite a few teething batting issues, Nelson Mandela Bay Giants managed to negotiate their way to a five-wickets win over Jozi Stars in the second match of the Mzansi Super League (MSL) at the Wanderers last night.

After setting a modest target of 125, the Giants crossed the line inside 18 overs with Rudi Second and Ryan McLaren on unbeaten scores of 15 and 10 runs, respectively, as they began their campaign on a positive note.

Giants started their chase with a scare as they lost captain Jon-Jon Smuts and Marco Marias without scoring inside four overs but they were able to recover with Ben Duckett and Heino Kuhn put a partnership of 44 runs off 26 balls.

Smuts and Marais were victims of deliveries by Beuran Hendricks. Eddie Leie later accounted for Heino Kuhn (14) while Duane Olivier removed Christiaan Jonker (9).

The star of the Giants batting was Englishman and man-of-the-match Duckett who fell in the 15th over from the bowling of Leie having scored a match winning knock of 75 off 45 .

Before they took the bat, the Giants managed to restrict the Stars to 124/7 due to the efforts of Smuts, who claimed three wickets, and McLaren with two to his name while Aaron Phangiso and Junior Dala returned with one each.

The first wicket to fall for the Stars was Ryan Rickelton when he was caught by Second in the third over from the bowling of Dala and he was soon followed by Chris Gayle who was trapped in front by McClaren having scored 23 runs.

The Stars middle order crumbled with Rassie van der Dussen (23), Dane Vilas (38) and Duane Olivier (15) the only notable contributors to the score board as Pete van Biljon, Daniel Christian, Calvin Savage and Nono Pongolo failed to register double figures.