NGIDI VS WILLIAMS – WILL THE DEADLOCK BE BROKEN?

When Paarl Royals host Joburg Super Kings today there’s a bowling matchup which will need breaking up – between Lungi Ngidi and Lizaad Williams.

In a quirk of fate, the pair have identical records going into the fixture at Boland Park – even if their respective teams have suffered differing results to date.

Ngidi sits atop the bowling standings at present – only because of alphabetical order. The lanky 27-year-old started the season against Pretoria Capitals with a solid 1/23 in his allotted four overs – his wicket being an athletic caught-and-bowled off big-hitting Will Jacks.

Then, in the return fixture at Centurion (his domestic home ground), Ngidi claimed 4/39 – the first four-for of Season 2 – and the Player of the Match award as Paarl went two wins from two matches.

Meanwhile, after Joburg Super Kings had their League opener at Sunrisers Eastern Cape rained out, Williams started his campaign against MI Cape Town at Wanderers last Saturday. While the visiting batters ran rampant, the 30-year-old seamer was JSK most economical bowler with figures of 1/36.

Two days later, at Durban’s Super Giants, Williams joined Ngidi in this season’s four-for club – finishing with 4/26. It was not enough to prevent JSK suffering back-to-back bonus point defeats… but it did create a stats dead-heat.

Both have claimed five wickets, bowled eight overs and conceded 62 runs. And so their averages (12.40), economy rates (7.75) and strike rates (9.60) also match.

Will Boland Park separate them? You can follow our Match Centre to see how the match-up unfolds...