SA20: Paarl Royals carve 7-wicket victory to keep MI Cape Town winless

Cape Town, Jan 4 (PTI) Paarl Royals extended defending champions MI Cape Town’s poor run in the fourth edition of the SA20 with a seven-wicket win here on Sunday.

Winless four preceding matches, MI needed a win here to get a move on, but their effort hardly reflected any of such intention, getting bowled out for a lowly 88.

The Royals confirmed their third position on the table, scaling down the target in 13 overs.

They now have 12 points from four matches to be placed behind Joburg Super Kings and Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

On a Newlands pitch that offered considerable assistance to bowlers, 19-year-old placer Nqobani Mokoena (2/10) and seasoned Ottneil Baartman (2/8) wrecked the local outfit’s top-order.

Spinner Sikandar Raza (4/13), who is making his maiden appearance in the SA20, then procured a good enough bounce off the surface with his off-spin to take four wickets as the Royals ended MI’s hopes of a late fightback.

Once Mokoena, who generated disconcerting pace and bounce on the day, slammed a short-pitched ball into MI opener Ryan Rickelton’s ribs, it was evident that the bowlers will have a sunshine day here, and it happened just that way.

However, both Rickelton and his opening partner Rassie van der Dussen were guilty of playing pull off Mokoena and Raza when there was clearly no space to execute that shot. Former West Indies batter Nicholas Pooran (17) and South Africa batter Reeza Hendricks (18) tried to give some stability to the innings.

But their third wicket alliance of 24 runs was way too slow to make any real impact as it consumed nearly six overs.

Once Pooran fell to a wonderful running catch by stumper Kyle Verreynne off Baartman, the MI innings fell apart spectacularly, losing the next six wickets for a mere 33 runs.

The Royals too started their chase on a shaky note as veteran Trent Boult flicked his first-over switch on to castle Lhuan-dre Pretorius.

But young batter Asa Tribe (34) and experienced Rubin Hermann (18) played sensible innings to keep the Royals firmly on course for a victory with a neat partnership for the second wicket that was worth 54 runs.

Apart from Boult, Kagiso Rabada, Corbin Bosch and Afghan star Rashid Khan bowled their hearts out, but the total was too marginal to enact even a miracle.

Brief scores: MI Cape Town: 88 all out in 18.4 overs (Reeza Hendricks 18; Sikandar Raza 4/13, Ottneil Baartman 2/8, Nqobani Mokoena 2/10) lost to Paarl Royals: 90/3 in 13 overs (Asa Tribe 34, Rubin Hermann 18) by 7 wickets. PTI UNG DDV