Reeza, van der Dussen star in MI Cape Town's easy win

MI Cape Town (MICT) breezed past the Paarl Royals on Monday (January 13) with a convincing 33-run victory in front of their blue brigade of supporters at Newlands. Reeza Hendricks (59) and Rassie van der Dussen (43) led the batting innings for the hosts in a 79-run stand for the second wicket to take them to 172 for 7. It proved to be too much for the Royals who could only muster 139 in their allotted overs, courtesy a sublime bowling performance from MICT.

Once again MICT had a poor opening stand as Ryan Rickelton fell early against the left-arm spin of Bjorn Fortuin. This brought the pair of Van der Dussen and Hendricks to the crease who have both found life pretty difficult at the start of this edition of the SA20. But the latter was given a loose delivery by Fortuin which he cut away for four to get his innings going while van der Dussen broke free against Mujeeb Ur Rahman with a six over midwicket.

The two batters were elegant in their stroke making and managed to pick the bones out of any slower balls bowled by the Royals. They were excellent running between the wickets, having also run a three on the quick outfield in Newlands. Just when they had laid a solid foundation for the hosts to kick on, Dayyaan Galiem bowled Van der Dussen. Hendricks took over the scoring as he dispatched short deliveries by Mujeeb to the ropes and brought up his 50. However, things turned for the hosts as they lost three wickets in as many overs including the dangerous Hendricks.

MICT attacked young Kwena Maphaka in a 16-run 17th over which consisted off three wides as the bowler missed his radar attempting a number of slower deliveries. Delano Potgeiter launched two slower deliveries by Lungi Ngidi into the stands but Galiem accounted for Dewald Brevis in the following over and Maphaka conceded only eight in the final over. It was also a shoddy fielding performance by the visitors who dropped three catches in the death overs.

In reply, the Royals got off to an absolute flier. Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Joe Root, who had a 132-run stand two days ago, had the hosts worried early on. Pretorius launched Trent Boult into the stands with a flick of his pads for six before Root dished out some harsh treatment to Azmatullah Omarzai in a 16-run over. They followed it up with a couple of boundaries off Boult as the visitors raced to 38 for 0 in three overs.

But Root fell at a crucial juncture to Kagiso Rabada. Pretorius attacked Rashid Khan who erred on line for 12 runs as the visitors brought up the team 50 in five overs. Rabada picked up the wicket of the dangerous Pretorius, who sliced it down to third-man. It was Rabada's second wicket-maiden in as many overs.

The wickets of the openers broke the door open for the hosts. MICT brought on spin from both ends with George Linde and Rashid, on a pitch slightly holding up, with the former picking up Mitchell van Buuren and David Miller in his first two overs. Galiem was caught at long-on off Rashid while Sam Hain was bowled by him. To make things worse, Dinesh Karthik was run-out with only 78 on the board as the Royals had completely lost their way. Mapahka (22) and Mujeeb (34) then registered a 42-run stand to deny a bonus point for MICT and see out proceedings.

Brief Scores: MI Cape Town 172/7 in 20 overs (Reeza Hendricks 59, Rassie van der Dussen 43; Dayyaan Galiem 3-24, Bjorn Fortuin 1-24) beat Paarl Royals 139/9 in 20 overs (Mujeeb Ur Rahman 34, Lhuan-dre Pretorius 26; George Linde 3-15, Kagiso Rabada 2-22) by 33 runs