CHENNAI: St George’s Park witnessed two-gun bowling performances as MI Cape Town cantered past Sunrisers Eastern Cape, the defending champions, in the inaugural match of the third season of the SA20.
After Trent Boult set the innings for Cape Town with a typical burst with the new ball, Delano Potgieter ran through the spine with an inspired bowling performance at the back end to claim five wickets for 10 across three overs. That resulted in them winning the opener by 97 runs. It certainly sets up the league as Eastern Cape have won the title two years in a row.
Batting first on a two-faced surface, the Cape Town franchise didn’t get off to a good start as the experienced Rassie van der Dussen (16 off 15), Reeza Hendricks (0), Connor Esterhuizen and (22 off 21) were all back in the pavilion inside the first seven overs.
That’s when the mercurial Dewald Brevis (57 off 29) provided some substantial muscle as his six sixes lifted the scoring rate to eight runs and beyond.
Potgieter finished the rebuild with a crisp, unbeaten 12-ball 25 to help them to 174. That was going to be a mountain on this tricky surface. It soon became Everestian after Boult had accounted for both Zak Crawley and Tom Abell with the new ball. Aiden Markram and Tristan Stubbs, the two diamonds in this batting line-up, battled against the tide for a while. Once they were accounted for, the innings folded.