Super Giants desperate for Heinrich to show his Klaas

Heinrich Klaasen will be firmly in the spotlight at Newlands on Saturday night where the Durban Super Giants need him to “light the fire” on their SA20 campaign, which has been little more than a damp squib. 

The weather hasn’t helped their cause with two of their matches rained out, which has played a part in upsetting their rhythm.

But the lack of impact from one of their most explosive players hasn’t helped either and has coach Lance Klusener searching for answers. 

“I’m concerned about everyone’s form, including mine,” he chirped after their fourth defeat this season against the Paarl Royals at Kingsmead on Thursday.

That was their last home match and if they are to return to the playoffs as Klusener still believes they can, then they’ll have to do it on the road, starting in Cape Town. 

What they also need is Klaasen to find his mojo, because his tournament so far has been middling at best.

He has scored just 43 runs in five innings, with his strike rate of 100.00 highlighting his struggles.

He’s not been helped by the Super Giants battling with the balance of their starting line-ups throughout the competition, which has included shifting Quinton de Kock from his usual spot at the top of the order to No 3 and 4. 

De Kock went back to open on Thursday and crushed 43 off 30 balls, and whatever it was Klusener and the rest of the Durban brains trust were looking for from him lower down the order is likely to be binned for the rest of the campaign. 

Klaasen has fallen victim to the same thinking that has seen him bat in four different spots in those five innings.

Klusener mentioned someone needed to light the fire to get the rest of the team going and it is to Klaasen that DSG must look. 

He’s been the most destructive white-ball batter in the past three years and that reputation has secured lucrative contracts in various franchise leagues, topped by the IPL where this year the Sunrisers Hyderabad will pay him R49.3m.  

With that sort of money comes great responsibility and expectation. Klaasen is known as someone who will look for a “fight” to get his competitive juices flowing. 

It happened in last season’s play-off match with the Joburg Super Kings at the Wanderers, where Klaasen took umbrage with some of the Super Kings’ celebrating and swatted a thunderous 30-ball 74 to propel DSG into the final.

Klusener will be looking for something similar at Newlands.

“I’ve been doing franchise cricket for a while and I know teams that pick up momentum towards the end [of a competition] are difficult to stop,” he said. 

On paper DSG have one of the tournament’s strongest teams, which will be further supplemented by the return of Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis on Saturday.

Klusener hopes that will provide the right balance for the starting XI and possibly allow the inclusion of off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen. 

The Durban franchise is bottom of the log but wins in their remaining three matches — especially if they add a few bonus points — would be enough to earn a top four place. 

MI Cape Town’s challenge will be the lack of play for them this week. After hammering Joburg Super Kings last Saturday, their midweek match in Durban was washed out after 11 overs.

They should still be confident, given how they’ve played, especially their top order, but against a fired-up and desperate DSG they will have to be wary. 

Saturday’s other match sees Paarl Royals host the hapless Pretoria Capitals, who have suffered back-to-back defeats. 

On Sunday Joburg Super Kings face Sunrisers Eastern Cape at 3.30pm at the Wanderers.