David Miller’s Paarl Royals show they have the bottle to ‘chase’ down SA20 title

There is something to be said about Paarl Royals’ performances in the first six matches of the SA20 this season after two campaigns of inconsistency.

The Winelands franchise top the log going into this weekend’s matches after winning five of their six outings in the competition thus far. In the past they have been good at home, but terrible away from their Boland Park fortress. This season, however, they have done the business in all sorts of conditions.

What makes their efforts even more impressive is that all of their victories have come batting second, and on different pitches and in different conditions.

Besides the defeat away to MI Cape Town, the Paarl Royals have chased down all sorts of targets with relative ease.

In their first game at Boland Park, in a day match, where the team batting first are usually the favourites, they chased down 175 with nine wickets in hand and with eight balls to spare.

Last Saturday, the Royals recorded one of the highest run chases in the tournament’s history when they chased down the Pretoria Capitals’ 212 to win by eight wickets with two balls to spare. 

What has made these chases stand out is that many of them have been spearheaded by young, talented South African batsmen, and assisted by Proteas white-ball stalwart David Miller.

Teenager Lhuan-dre Pretorius is the leading run-scorer in the competition with 258 runs, with a highest score of 97 at an average of 43.00. However, the most impressive aspect of the youngster’s performances has been his strike-rate of 180.42, as he has come out and played some fearless cricket against the new ball.

Rubin Herman and Mitchell van Buuren have also played nicely in the chases, with the acquisition of English star Joe Root has been a masterstroke, with the batter bringing much-needed stability and quality at the top, which had been lacking in the first two seasons.

But nobody deserves more credit than Miller, who has been outstanding at the end of all their matches, carrying the team home on his shoulders.

Miller is fifth in the list of top run-scorers’ list with 154, but has been not out at the end of their efforts on four occasions out of the six matches they have played.

This bodes well for the Proteas' crack at the Champions Trophy from next month with Miller back to his best after a bit of a dip in form following the disappointment of the T20 World Cup in the West Indies.

The Paarl Royals have two home matches to come over the next few days, with clashes against the Pretoria Capitals (Saturday, 1pm start) and Durban Super Giants (Monday, 5.30pm start) to come.

@JohnGoliath82