MI Cape Town 181 for 8 (Esterhuizen 39, Brevis 38, Gleeson 2-22) beat Sunrisers Eastern Cape 105 (Abell 30, Rabada 4-25, Boult 2-9, Linde 2-20) by 76 runs
MI have now ticked off title wins in every franchise T20 tournament they’ve been part of. IPL: check. CLT20 (now defunct): check. WPL: check. MLC: check. ILT20: check. SA20: check.
Rickelton fires opening salvo
However, when Craig Overton took pace off, Rickelton couldn’t manufacture his own pace and ended up chipping a catch to mid-off.
Brevis then brought the roof down at the Wanderers when he launched a one-handed six off a slower variation from Overton in the 15th over. Linde, who had been promoted to No.5 to counter Dawson’s left-arm fingerspin, also did his job, hitting him for two sixes. When he attempted another six, he failed to clear long-off.
After having been taken to the cleaners in the early exchanges, Jansen bounced back to cut Brevis’ innings short.
Delano Potgieter and Rabada then ensured MICT breached 180.
MICT’s bowling masterclass
That total looked a whole lot bigger when Boult, especially, made Sunrisers’ batters look silly in the powerplay. After he softened David Bedingham with inswingers, Rabada made the incision by having the batter chipping a catch to short cover for 5. Boult got his first wicket of the evening when he drew a leading edge from Jordan Hermann for 1.
Boult had scarcely believable powerplay figures of 3-0-4-1 before he returned at the death to trick Tristan Subbs with a slower variation. Tom Abell briefly countered MICT’s strikes before Linde had him stumped for 30 off 25 balls. Linde continued to keep it tight along with his captain Rashid, who pinned Tony de Zorzi lbw for 26 in a boundary-less spell. During their chase, Sunrisers went without a boundary for 45 balls.
Dawson ended the drought when he sent a thick outside-edge flying to the boundary off Rabada but the quick sunk the Sunrisers’ lower order with his nifty variations.
From finishing bottom of the table in the first two seasons of the SA20, MICT clinched their first title on Saturday and celebrated under firework-filled skies.