Cape Town Blitz 198 for 5 (de Kock 74, Malan 66, Olivier 3-40) beat Jozi Stars 136 (Vilas 29, Linde 3-25, Nortje 3-30) by 62 runs
Cape Town Blitz extended their unbeaten run in the Mzansi Super League with a ruthless 62-run win over Jozi Stars in Johannesburg. Janneman Malan and Quinton de Kock set up Blitz’s 198 for 5 with a 99-run opening stand that immediately put the hosts on the back foot. The visiting pace attack then shut down the chase with repeated strikes that kept the home side’s batting in check. Anrich Nortje, Dale Steyn and Andile Phehlukwayo shared seven wickets and Stars were bowled out in just 17.4 overs.
Dane Vilas put Blitz in after winning the toss, and though their innings started and ended tamely, there were runs aplenty between times. Just three runs came from the first over, and only four from the last, but the fourth umpire had to make two trips to the middle to deliver replacement balls as first de Kock and then Malan smashed shots out of the stadium, and 70 runs flowed in the Powerplay to kick-start the innings.
De Kock raced to a 24-ball fifty in the sixth over with two sixes and a four off Kagiso Rabada’s successive deliveries. Malan played an efficient second fiddle and turned the strike over as his partner went on the charge. De Kock collected his fifth six with a slog sweep off Eddie Leie but then fell attempting a sixth, skying Duanne Olivier to Rassie van der Dussen at long on.
Malan and Farhaan Behardien added a further 67 for the second wicket in quick time, with Malan bringing up his second fifty of the tournament in the 16th over as Blitz set a solid platform. Malan struck two more sixes off Rabada, but Stars’ pace attack struck back with Olivier and Beuran Hendricks combining to take three wickets in three balls.
The dismissals meant that Blitz couldn’t quite top 200, but their total proved more than enough as Steyn and Nortje blew the Stars top order away. Nortje beat Reeza Hendricks for pace with his fifth delivery, and Steyn then struck in consecutive overs as Stars slipped to 32 for 3.
Vilas and Pite van Biljon had just started to repair the innings when Phehlukwayo rattled van Biljon’s stumps, and with the required-rate escalating every ball, the pressure was heaped upon Stars’ lower order. Nortje returned to remove Vilas, and went on to end Rabada’s cameo with a top edge easily caught by Kyle Verreynne in the deep.
Left-arm spinner George Linde completed a clinical display by the Blitz, trapping Dan Christian lbw and then luring Hendricks and Leie out of the crease for consecutive stumpings that brought the match to a swift end. With four wins in four games, Cape Town Blitz have solidified their position at the top of the table, and on current form they are early frontrunners for the inaugural MSL title.
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