Gqeberha: As streaks of the Orange sky made its presence felt at sunset over St. George's Park after a sun-kissed afternoon, the Paarl Royals openers were intent on hunting down a steep 200 to become the first team to reach the final of the third edition of the SA20 league. So, Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Mitchell Owen, two batters, whose modus operandi is dealing in boundaries, especially sixes, wanted to leave their fingerprint on the chase early doors.
Pretorius may only be 18 but he has confidence flowing through his veins. When you come down the track to hoist Trent Boult over his head for four off the second ball of the chase, you need a certain chutzpah. Off the next ball, he flicked him Sanath Jayasuriya style, for six. Off Boult's final ball off the first over, Owen, the Australian who set the pulses racing at the Big Bash League, nonchalantly stroked the Kiwi for six over long off. 21 runs after six balls and the game very much on.
Not really. Not when Pretorius, for all his gumption and intent, is still a kid in an environment where adults, more often than not, tend to win the clutch moments. Moments later, Kagiso Rabada tempted his younger compatriot into a booming drive outside off stump. The southpaw obliged and Ryan Rickleton completed a smart catch behind the sticks.
The adult had entered the conversation and the kid was asked to chew over his mistake. The fun had stopped and the slide had begun even before the crowd had settled back into their seats post the interval.
This was always going to be the most likely result after MI Cape Town (MICT), who were inserted in on a bald, dry surface, were allowed to run-up a big score.
The expectation was that the batters would struggle against spin. That, in a microcosm, was advantage Paarl Royals, who had several handy tweakers in their ranks. Sure, the opposition had Rashid Khan, the format's ace, but Paarl Royals had a lot of face cards.
David Miller & Co. may have been forgiven for assuming they could control the innings. However, MICT had lift-off in the second over. Kwena Maphaka's first delivery was erratic and the cost was five wides way down the leg side. His first legal delivery was too full on middle and Rickelton, whose technique is eerily similar to that of Quinton de Kock, drove down the ground for a boundary.
The opening (Rassie van der Dussen being the other half) had moved to a solid but unspectacular 0/21 off three overs when the floodgates truly opened. At St. George's Park, the brass band adds to the atmosphere. In the back end of the powerplay, the noise off ball on bat added to the din that was being created in the stand.
4-0-4-0-6-1-1-6-6-1-6-0-1-4-1-0-4-0 was the sequence over the next 18 balls as the two openers went after anything that was round, white and in the same postcode as the bat. 0/21 became 0/66 at the end of the powerplay and the fielding team's body language had come down several notches. Sensing some shoulders were beginning to drop, keeper Dinesh Karthik was trying to directing traffic from behind the stumps.
Why have these two openers been outliers in a season where openers have got zero joy? A right-left combination is only part of their success story. They have both been pretty consistent in the shortest format but over the last month, they have been consistent at the same time. They also know where to hit but also where not to hit when the field is up. Van der Dussen typically goes over the in-field over mid-wicket while Rickelton, who has had quite the last six months across formats, can access multiple areas for the same delivery.
Together, the duo have scored 833 runs at a strike rate of 146.91 while averaging 46.2 (Paarl Royals are second-best with 623 and it perfectly captures the gulf between the first and the rest).
After the openers were dismissed, Paarl Royals had a few quiet overs but MICT weren't going to be denied a big score as Dewald Brevis, George Linde and Delano Potgieter lent some significant muscle to close out the innings. It proved to be the difference in the end.
Both teams will depart for Johannesburg on Wednesday but for Paarl Royals, it's a short detour to Centurion as they aim to get through via the second qualifier. For MICT, who had finished bottom of the league in the first two seasons, finals day await. After two years of darkness, the Sun may be about to rise for the franchise.
Brief scores: MICT 199/4 in 20 overs (Rickelton 44, Van der Dussen 40, Brevis 44 n.o, Linde 26, Potgieter 32 n.o, Wellalage 2/23) bt Paarl Royals 160 in 19.4 overs (Miller 45, Karthik 31; Rashid 2/33).