The ever-entertaining Dewald Brevis broke the back of the meagre 105 target put up by a troubled Joburg Super Kings batting order as MI Cape Town romped to a nine-wicket victory in their Betway SA20 clash at Six Gun Grill Newlands, Cape Town.
The home team got off to the perfect start as Ryan Rickelton (21) and Brevis combined for a 65-run opening partnership. Rickelton got a few easy deliveries early in his innings to put away to the off-side boundary while Brevis took the attack to the bowlers.
Gerald Coetzee was rewarded for some accurate bowling as Rickelton had a big swipe to the legside only to get a top edge to Alzarri Joseph at third man. Coetzee continued bowling excellently as he dismissed Brevis for 42 (34) off the final delivery of his spell when he pulled a short delivery straight to long-on. He ended with match figures of 4-0-24-2.
Ultimately, the effort of Coetzee was not enough to stop MI Cape Town from cantering to the target, but they didn’t manage to secure their second bonus point victory in the tournament as Rassie van der Dussen’s laboured 23-ball 14 cost them the extra point.
Earlier in the day, Rashid Khan had won the toss and decided to field first. George Linde opened the bowling for the home side, a good matchup against Janneman Malan who has struggled early in his innings against left-arm spin. However, Linde dragged a couple of deliveries short while giving Malan the width to put it away to the cover boundary which got him going. They continued to help Malan out as Sam Curran bowled a no-ball in the second over with Malan duly pulling the free hit over deep midwicket for six.
It had not been the ideal start from MI Cape Town on what has proven to be a difficult wicket for batters to score fluently on in the first innings of the matches that has been played at Newlands so far this season. However, with the score on 24-0 after three overs, Kagiso Rabada was introduced into the attack, playing his first game in the tournament. He bowled a beautiful delivery that moved in off the pitch to knock back the off-stump of Reeza Hendricks for two.
Captain Rashid Khan kept Linde on and he was rewarded with the wicket of Malan for 16 (21), falling to left-arm spin once again, hitting the ball down the throat of mid-on. He was quickly followed by Kyle Verreynne who became Linde’s second victim of the day, giving the point fielder catching practice after the ball had stopped on him. This was the third successive match where the Joburg Super Kings had lost three or more wickets in the powerplay. Funnily enough at 34 for three, this was also their best powerplay in the tournament so far.
Waqar Salamkheil, the left-arm wrist spinner from Afghanistan playing his first match of the tournament, bamboozled Faf du Plessis as he turned one back in which Faf could not lay a bat on and crashed into the stumps to leave the Joburg Super Kings reeling once again at 41 for four. It has been a disappointing top-order effort from them in the tournament where they have lost their fourth wicket by the eighth over in all three matches thus far.
Once again it was up to Donovan Ferreira, the big money man from the auction, to try and resurrect a dwindling innings. With the twin wrist spinners from Afghanistan in operation, life didn’t get any easier for the batters. Captain Khan soon broke through as Ferreira look to slog him over the leg side only to lose his leg stump.
Leus du Plooy who came in for Lewis Gregory in this match, did a bit of a rebuilding job with Ramario Shepherd but fell for 21 (26) off the first ball that Odean Smith bowled in the tournament when he pulled the ball straight to deep midwicket where Ryan Rickelton took it safely. Smith got another in the over as Rickelton caught Shepherd splendidly over his head at cover.
Khan returned to dismiss Alzarri Joseph for two, caught by Dewald Brevis at long-on running in. In the next over Rabada nicked off Gerald Coetzee for one run in what was a fantastic return to the cricket field after he was rested in the first two matches.
George Garton and Aaron Phangiso rallied a bit for the last wicket as they put up 20 runs between them, but ultimately the total proved to be way under par as MI Cape Town surged to the top of the table while the Joburg Super Kings were left licking their wounds after a second successive thrashing.
MI CAPE TOWN:
Dewald Brevis, Ryan Rickleton, Grant Roelofsen (wk), Rassie van der Dussen, George Linde, Sam Curran, Rashid Khan (capt), Delano Potgieter, Odean Smith, Waqar Salamkheil, Kagiso RabadaJOBURG SUPER KINGS: Reeza Hendricks, Janneman Malan, Faf du Plessis (capt), Kyle Verreynne (wk), Leus du Plooy, Donovan Ferreira, Ramario Shepherd, George Garton, Alzarri Joseph, Gerald Coetzee, Aaron Phangiso.