MI Cape Town march into SA20 final

MI Cape Town's Dewald Brevis clubs a six during the Betway SA20 Qualifier 1 against the Paarl Royals at St George's Park in Gqeberha on Tuesday.
MI Cape Town's Dewald Brevis clubs a six during the Betway SA20 Qualifier 1 against the Paarl Royals at St George's Park in Gqeberha on Tuesday.
Image: Shaun Roy/SA20

 

MI Cape Town qualified for their first-ever Betway SA20 final after beating provincial rivals Paarl Royals by 39 runs in Qualifier 1 at St George's Park in Gqeberha on Tuesday evening.

Chasing a huge 200 for victory after three 40s from Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen and Dewald Brevis, the Royals replied with 160 in 19.4 overs.

Royals captain David Miller kept his team's faint hopes alive with a fighting 45 in 26 balls while Dinesh Karthik made 31 in support. But for the remainder of the batting order the task was too steep.

The MI Cape Town bowlers shared the wickets with Kagiso Rabada, Rashid Khan, Corbin Bosch and Trent Boult each taking two wickets. 

This was a battle between positions one and two after the completion of the league stage and it was the Cape Town side that emerged shining brightly. It was a thumping victory that made a statement by sending them straight into Saturday's final. 

The Royals get another chance to remain in the hunt for silverware when they contest Qualifier 2 in Centurion on Thursday. 

There were raised eyebrows when Miller chose to field first at a venue where the chasing side had only won on one occasion during this campaign.

The MI Cape Town opening duo of Van der Dussen and Rickelton accepted the challenge.

After a watchful pair of opening overs, the prolific pair of ball-strikers tucked into the Royals' attack, striking boundaries, almost at will.

Royals spinner Bjorn Fortuin, normally a tidy banker in the power play, came in for stick this time around, especially in the fifth over when he conceded 20 runs.

He was removed from the attack but that didn't faze Van der Dussen and Rickelton as they continued the assault taking the total to 66 without loss in six overs, the best power play at St George's Park this season.

MI Cape Town's total kept shifting rapidly until seamer Dayyaan Galiem provided the much sought-after breakthrough for the Royals dismissing Van der Dussen for 40 to make it 87 for one from 9.2 overs.

An odd period followed when compared to the fast start as Cape Town then lost Rickelton (44) and Sediqullah Atal (0) with the total on 93. That equated to three wickets in eight balls for the addition of only six runs.

But Brevis and George Linde got the innings back on track with a stand of 36 in 21 balls for the fourth wicket.

Fortuin came back to remove the hard-hitting Linde for 26 but the spinner ended up giving away 44 runs in his four overs.

Brevis (44 not out) and Delano Potgieter (32 not out) added the finishing touches to the innings of 199 for four, which was the highest total for the campaign, surpassing the Sunrisers' 165 for five with 74 runs coming in the final five overs. 

The Herald


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