New Year’s Eve proved to be the lucky charm for Pretoria Capitals as they joined Paarl Royals in opening their SA20 Season 4 reports with their respective first wins on Wednesday.
Capitals edged past MI Cape Town by 85 runs and recorded a bonus point win over Newlands.
Sherfane Rutherford enjoyed a New Year’s Eve to remember, with the West Indian all-rounder delivering the perfect all-round performance for Capitals.
Rutherford (47 not out off 15 balls, 6×6) and Dewald Brevis (36 not out off 13 balls, 1×4, 4×6) brought the fireworks with the bat before the Windies superstar produced a career-best bowling performance of 4/24 to dismiss MI Cape Town for just 135 in response to the Capitals’ mammoth 220/5.
The ‘Sky Blues’ pair delivered an explosive partnership of 86 runs off just 27 balls, offsetting a poor Powerplay after a fit Kagiso Rabada helped reduce the visitors to 36/3.
It was a combative display of power-hitting with 92 runs for the loss of just one wicket at a run-rate of 18.2 in the last five overs.
The duo almost matched each other shot for shot, but it was Rutherford’s astonishing strike on Dewald Pretorius in the penultimate that shocked the Newlands faithful.
The West Indian hit four consecutive maximums, which were part of a run of six sixes in a row, which had been set off by Brevis’ double in the previous over.
It was the perfect ending after Shai Hope (45 off 30 balls, 3×4, 2×6) and Wihan Lubbe (60 off 36 balls, 7×4, 2×6) had done the first resurrection.
The four Player of the Match candidates were Dewald Brevis, Wihan Lubbe, Keshav Maharaj and Sherfane Rutherford, with the West Indian winning 77.4% of the fans’ votes.
MI Cape Town’s chase was always going to depend on their openers Ryan Rickleton (33 off 17 balls) and Rassie van der Dussen (28 off 20 balls) and the pair delivered a 60-run stand within the Powerplay.
But their dismissals within a short period of each undermined MI Cape Town’s chase, despite Nicholas Pooran equaling fellow West Indian Rutherford by also smashing Keshav Maharaj (3/28) for four consecutive sixes in his six-ball 25.
However, Maharaj had the last laugh by catching Pooran in the middle of a three-wicket spell that ripped the heart out of MI Cape Town’s middle order and ultimately the hosts’ challenge.
Earlier in the day, Paarl Royals captain David Miller masterminded his team’s successful chase with a timely unbeaten 71 runs off just 38 balls.
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