There are ways to announce your arrival at home, and then there is this. MI Cape Town have absolutely bossed their entry into Newlands for this first time in this season of the SA20 and boy, haven’t we loved every bit of it. The crowd going wild, our batters striking them big, our bowlers skittling the opposition out, there was complete dominance on display. 

The Reeza storm touches down! 

The first two games were a tad quiet by his lofty standards, but enter Newlands, and Reeza Hendricks has found his timing. He plundered a 37-ball 59 to set the platform for a massive score, with Rassie van der Dussen giving him good company with his 33-ball 43. 

One, two, three, Delano

He spoke about enthralling the Cape Town public with his batting ahead of the game, and he lived up to it completely. Two fours and two sixes in his 18-ball knock of 29 while finishing the MI Cape Town innings to lift them to a strong 172/7 in their 20 overs. Young Dewald Brevis too chipped in with a useful 14-run cameo. 

Collapse triggered, and game sealed

The Paarl Royals were off to a good start with 38 coming off the first three overs, thanks mainly to Joe Root going on the offensive. But once Kagiso Rabada came in, bowled a couple of wicket maidens on the trot, which George Linde and Rashid Khan piled on with five wickets among them to ensure the Royals’ balloon kept being punctured regularly, the game was all but sealed. A slight fightback towards the end by the tail meant that we couldn’t get the bonus point, but nevertheless, it was as clinical as it could get. 

Three games, two wins, one with a bonus point, and a net run-rate of +2.408. We are right at the top of the table. Long may it continue ..