Cape Town Blitz wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock rescued his team from certain defeat against the Tshwane Spartans at Centurion on Saturday.
With the Cape Town-based team bleeding out at 101/8 after being sent in to bat, De Kock, who was there from the first ball, scored an unbelievable 108 off just 55 balls in an innings that included five sixes and 10 fours.
He shared a 57-run ninth wicket stand with Malusi Siboto, who faced 12 balls for his unbeaten nine runs in a 60-run victory.
De Kock was ultimately caught by Theunis de Bruyn off the bowling of Rory Kleinveldt when he tried a pull shot but found the top edge of the bat.
Still, he did enough to guide Blitz to 172/9 in their 20 overs.
BACK TO WINNING WAYS: The Blitz sparked after poor time with bat. Photo: BACKPAGEPIX
Fellow opener Janneman Malan was the only other Blitz batsman to get into double figures with his score of 34 after the pair laid a good platform up front with a stand of 83 before the collapse started.
The hosts were always going to bat out of their skins to bag the win.
Proteas opener Dean Elgar (37) and Gihann Cloete (16) got them off to a solid start before Cloete was clean bowled by Dale Steyn.
And when Elgar tried to push a Mohammad Nawaz delivery away from his body, he chipped it to new boy Nandre Burger.
At 64/2, the Spartans were still in the clash, but as soon as Siboto clean bowled danger man AB de Villiers for just seven, you got the feeling it was tickets for the hosts.
Burger, meanwhile, announced himself in style on the day.
Having been called up as a replacement for the injured Anrich Nortje, the left-arm seamer he knocked over the leg stump of Tony De Zorzi (16), had Rory Kleinveldt (2) caught by Dane Piedt and also clean bowled Jeevan Mendis for seven to end with bowling figures of 3/19.
The figures of Nawaz (3/14) made for even better reading, as the Spartans could only get to 112 – 60 runs short of Blitz’s total.
Other MSL results
JOZI SPARTANS beat DURBAN HEAT by 53 runs
Spartans – 230/3 (Reeza Hendricks 104*, Ryan Rickelton).
Heat – 177 (Morne van Wyk 66, Kyle Abbott 30; Kagiso Rabada 4/27).
NMB GIANTS beat PAARL ROCKS by 48 runs
Giants – 168/9 (Heino Kuhn 54, Christiaan Jonker 23; Dane Paterson 2/26, Bjorn Fortuin 2/33)
Rocks – 120 (Aiden Markram 50; JJ Smuts 3/17, Sisanda Magala 3/17).
PAARL ROCKS beat DURBAN HEAT by nine wickets
Heat – 154/6 (Khaya Zondo 38*, Morne van Wyk 33; Tabraiz Shamsi 2/20).
Rocks – 158/1 (Faf du Plessis 76*, Aiden Markram 48; Brandon Mavuta 1/32).
JOZI SPARTANS beat NMB GIANTS by 81 runs
Spartans – 173/3 (Reeza Hendricks 108*, Ryan Rickelton 21).
Giants – 92 (Dwaine Pretorius 3/17, Kagiso Rabada 2/8).