Paarl Rocks won the battle of the Cape Mzansi Super League teams on Sunday, smashing Cape Town Blitz by 86 runs.
Captain Faf du Plessis’s hosts in the Boland won absolutely every single contest on the day, starting with the toss where the Proteas skipper won the coin flip against Blitz’s Quinton de Kock.
Du Plessis decided to bat first as his team got off to a flying start, with openers Henry Davids and Cameron Delport (19) scoring 41 runs in 4.3 overs, before the latter was caught by Janneman Malan off the bowling of Anrich Nortje.
IN THE RUNS: Faf du Plessis. Picture: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix.
But Davids soldiered on to score 38, with Du Plessis adding the same total as Rocks worked their way to 170/9 in their 20 overs.
Having scored 213/3 in their first match of the tournament on Friday to beat Jozi Stars by 15 runs, Cape Town Blitz’s batsmen would have been full of confidence when it was their turn to take strike.
OUT CHEAPLY: Quinton de Kock. Picture: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix.
Openers De Kock and Malan shared a 72-run first wicket partnership on Friday, but they couldn’t produce the goods this time around.
EARLY DAMAGE: Hardus Viljoen of the Paarl Rocks, centre, took 2/9. Picture: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix.
De Kock (14) was the first to go when he was caught at backward point off the bowling of Hardus Viljoen.
The speedster then got his second big scalp as Malan was caught behind with his score on 12 - not close to the 99 he got against Stars.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/MSL_T20?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MSL_T20campaign! @CT_Blitz played a great game but our bowling attack was on fire 🔥 And to the Purple Army, you guys ROCKED! 💜 #PaarlRocks #MSLT20 pic.twitter.com/7DkW3Wbtqk
— Paarl Rocks (@Paarl_Rocks)
The damage was done by Viljoen, who ended with 2/9 in two overs.
Then it was the turn of Proteas spin bowler Tabraiz Shamsi to finish off their visitors.
With Blitz losing wickets at regular intervals, none of their batsmen could stick around as Shamsi (3/16) ripped through their batting order to help bowl them out for just 84 runs.