The new season of SA20 began with a commanding 97-run win for MI Cape Town (MICT) against the defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) on Thursday in Gqeberha after a match-winning show from Delano Potgieter.
The Sunrisers were no match for the MICT team and crumbled for 77 while chasing a challenging 175-run target at St. George’s Park.
Opting to bat first after winning the toss, MICT put up a solid 174 for 7 on the board, thanks to Dewald Brevis’s explosive 57 off 29 deliveries, which included 6 sixes.
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But their innings didn’t begin as they would have expected, with Reeza Hendricks dismissed for a three-ball duck by Marco Jansen and the last ball of Powerplay saw the other opener, Rassie van der Dussen, sent back by Liam Dawson for 16.
Two other MICT batters — Connor Esterhuizen (22) and Colin Ingram (22) — got starts but couldn’t go on to convert it into a big knock.
It was then left to Brevis to hold the innings together while keeping the scoring rate up. In the end, Potgieter’s 25 not out off 12 balls and and George Linde’s unbeaten 23 off 17 took the total past the 170-run mark.
In response, SEC’s pursuit of the target faced immediate setbacks as Trent Boult dismissed opener Zak Crawley (12) and No. 3 Tom Abell (0) off successive deliveries in the third over.
Wickets continued to tumble at both ends, as SEC had no answers to Potgieter’s bowling skills after his cameo with the bat. He finished with a five-wicket haul (5/10), which included a three-wicket over.
It saw SEC getting shot out for just 77 in 15 overs as none of their batters could touch the 20-run mark.
Captain Aiden Markram (19) provided some hope for a while, but couldn’t kick on. Jordan Hermann (4), Tristan Stubbs (13), Beyers Swanepoel (1) and David Bedingham (0) too fell cheaply.
Boult finished with impressive figures of 2 for 16, while Azmatullah Omarzai and Linde secured one wicket each.
