MI Cape Town prevented a third consecutive SA20 title win for Sunrisers Eastern Cape with a convincing victory at the Wanderers on Saturday.
The SA20 final took place on Saturday at the Wanderers with Sunrisers Eastern Cape looking to pick up a third trophy on the bounce. MI Cape Town was looking for their first title after finishing in bottom spot in the last two season.
Walking into the Wanderers, I wasn’t sure what to expect. With the home side not being in the final, would fans turn out in their usual capacity to support the teams in action?
As I walked through the turnstile, I was hit by a flood of cricket fans buzzing with excitement, as they spoke about the game as well as what they would grab to eat and drink.
This was my first experience at the Wanderers for this SA20 campaign, and I could immediately see that the amount of stalls increased as well as activations. The fan experience was taken to the next level.
I ran into quite a few members of the Orange Army, but glancing at the crowd from the media centre it was evident that MI Cape Town had the most representation in the stands. You could also hear this by the cheers for every boundary and wicket in MICT’s favour.
MI Cape Town won the toss and decided to bat first, and local boys Rassie van der Dussen and Ryan Rickelton took full advantage of their familiarity of the ground smacking maximums for fun. They hit six sixes in the powerplay, with Rickelton contributing to four of those for his 33 off 15 balls. But his innings came to an end when he chipped Overton to mid-off.
Reeza Hendricks then fell for a duck an over later and Van der Dussen for 22 in the 9th.
MICT never changed their intent. Goerge Linde came out and smashed 3 sixes for his 20. Dewald Brevis showed his attacking prowess by entertaining the crowd with his knock. He scored 38 runs off 18 balls (2 fours, 4 sixes), before he was dismissed by Marco Jansen.
Connor Esterhuizen, at his domestic home ground, also added an important cameo with 39 off 26 balls (2 fours, 2 sixes), but he was the sixth wicket to fall at the end of the 17th over. MICT were 161-5 at this point.
SEC tried to pull things back, but MICT still managed to reach a strong total of 181-9 after 20 overs.
The chase for Sunrisers was tough. MICT restricted them to 74-5 after 11.2 overs. Tom Abell (30 off 25 balls) and Tony de Zorzi (26 off 23 balls) top scored for the men in orange.
Stubbs fell in the 15th over and it was pretty much game over from there.
It was a collective bowling effort that stuck the nail in the coffin. Kagiso Rabda (3-25), George Linde (2-20) and Trent Boult (2-9) were the key wicket takers as SEC were bowled out for 105, winning by 76 runs.
Photo: SportzPics
