MI Cape Town hand defending champs Sunrisers nightmare start

MI Cape Town finally got one over the Sunrisers Eastern Cape as a Delano Potgieter five-fer helped them claim a 97-run win over the two-time champions in the opening match of the SA20 in Gqeberha on Thursday evening. 

Having lost their last four encounters by close margins to the Sunrisers in previous seasons, they made an emphatic start to the third instalment, dismissing the Gqeberha side for 77 all out to claim a bonus point victory.

For the Sunrisers, 19 runs by skipper Aiden Markram, 14 by Marco Jansen and 13 by Tristan Stubbs were the only scores worth mentioning as the rest of the line-up could only muster single-figure scores.

Potgieter claimed 5/10 in three overs, while Trent Boult with 3/16 ripped the hosts’ line-up apart.

Earlier, Dewald Brevis struck six sixes and two fours on his way to 57 from 29 balls, while Potgieter and George Linde smashed unbeaten scores of 25 and 23, respectively, to help their side to 174 for seven.

The home side needed a record 175 runs under lights to win the match.

Their openers scored 14 runs from the first two overs as Zak Crawley and Jordan Hermann eased into the run chase. 

However, matters went pear-shaped in the third over as Boult sent down four dot balls before removing Crawley for 12 and Tom Abell for a first-ball duck.

It got worse for the hosts when an attempted flick by Hermann flew into the night air and was smartly caught by Corbin Bosch on the boundary as the Sunrisers slipped to 16/3 in the space of four balls.

The responsibility of rebuilding the innings fell on the shoulders of skipper Markram and Stubbs, who took the side to strategic timeout on 40/3 after seven overs.

Their partnership garnered 32 runs before the Sunrisers lost four more wickets for the addition of only two runs, slipping from 48/3 to 50/7.

First Stubbs was caught on the boundary off Linde for 13 in the 10th over, before Potgieter struck three times in the next over, removing Beyers Swanepoel (1), David Bedingham (0) and skipper Markram (19) to leave the hosts in a heap of trouble, needing 125 to win from the final nine overs.

Potgieter grabbed a fourth with the wicket of Liam Dawson before Jansen and Simon Harmer tried to salvage the innings.

Jansen was run out for 14 before Potgieter completed his five-wicket haul by bowling Richard Gleeson (0) as the home side were all out inside 15 overs.

Asked to bat first, the visitors lost their first three wickets with 42 runs on the board inside the first seven overs.

Jansen removed Reeza Hendricks for a duck while Gleeson and Dawson accounted for Connor Estherhuizen (22) and Rassie van der Dussen (16), respectively.

Colin Ingram (22) and Brevis shared the fourth wicket before both men were removed by Swanepoel and Jansen, respectively.

Two more wickets fell when Azmatullah Omarzai (2), was dismissed by Harmer, while Gleeson took his second of the innings to remove skipper Rashid Kahn for a golden duck.

Linde and Potgieter then combined to put on an unbeaten 42 to help MICT past 170 in the final over.

Gleeson and Jansen returned figures of 2/22 and 2/38 from each of their four overs.

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