Keegan Petersen showed off his class and striking ability as he led the Gbets Rocks to a seven-wicket run over the AET Tuskers in their CSA T20 Challenge match at Eurolux Boland Park on Wednesday afternoon.
The Rocks, who won the toss and elected to field first, restricted the Tuskers to 119 for nine.
They needed 120 runs to win and chased down the total in 17.4 overs, scoring 121 for three with 14 deliveries to spare.
Up until now Petersen, who returned to his home club at the start of this season after a spell with the Dolphins, had not shown up with the bat in the homecoming season.
However, in this encounter the 30-year-old smashed four sixes and two fours on his way to a well-played 57 from 43.
This is his sixth T20 half-ton. The Proteas player reached the milestone with a flourish, a big six over long-on.
Petersen arrived at the crease in the fourth over, in the throes of an exceptional two-over spell from Mbulelo Budaza.
The 30-year-old pacer had accounted for Clyde Fortuin in his first over, then took care of Adrian du Toit in his second over.
The pacer has been in outstanding form for the Tuskers this season and he was unrelenting in his first two overs.
The Tuskers were on 22 for two after four overs thanks to Budaza's two-over spell of two wickets for two runs.
However, Petersen's arrival in the middle steadied the ship as he conjured an 89-run third-wicket partnership with Shaun von Berg.
The experienced spinner was sent up the order, at No 3, to help the Rocks take advantage of the Powerplay, but the sluggish pitch and good bowling from the Tuskers prevented that.
Von Berg shepherded the Rocks past the finishing line unbeaten on 37 from 48. He only scored a single four and a single six.
SPINNING WEBS AROUND THE TUSKERS
Petersen and von Berg were able to bat in the manner they did thanks to a great bowling effort from Siyabonga Mahima and Imraan Manack.
Mahima took 3-17 in four overs, while Imraan Manack gave a good account of himself, bagging 2-20 in his four-over allotment.
The spinners spun webs around the Tuskers, allowing them no room to express themselves.
The pressure from Mahima, Manack and the rest of the Rocks' bowling attack was so great that the Tuskers' highest partnership contributed 47 runs.
Batting has been the Tuskers' Achilles heel throughout their campaign and nothing had changed against the Rocks.
Only three of their batters, Kyle Nipper (36), Michael Erlank (32) and Ntando Zuma (21), reached double figures.
The rest of the batting line-up was stuck in single-digit scores.
Their normally reliable bowling attack did not have enough runs to work with and their effort was futile against the Rocks.
Budaza continued with his consistency, bagging two wickets for 15 runs in three overs. Kurtlyn Mannikam took a single wicket for 17 runs in two overs.
Rocks Too Strong For Tuskers 💪
— CSA Domestic Leagues (@DomesticCSA) April 17, 2024
Keegan Peterson led the charge the Paarl Rocks to earn a comfortable victory at home 🪨#WozaNawe #BePartOfIt #CSAT20Challenge pic.twitter.com/5OPEx0NHQI