The warning bells are sounded. MI Cape Town are in a virtual knockout zone, and Rassie van der Dussen set up the 248-run mountain with his seven-ball 21. Here he is, at the post-match press-conference, looking back, ahead, at the younger boys, and backing us to get better and better. Excerpts.. 

On not managing to get the bonus point

I was saying to someone in the changing room, because on a pitch like this, a team can chase 300 with one small boundary, the altitude. We came here to win, a bonus point would have been nice, but you don’t get many opportunities as a team to go into a must-win. It’s good for the competition. If I have it correct, whoever wins on Saturday goes through, and we wait for the JSK result. It’s a fair situation we are in, let’s see if we can pull it together, and how much we want it. 

On what has been missing from MI Cape Town’s campaign in this season

We may have had one good showing against the Royals at home, but apart from that we haven’t had one complete performance. Today was close to it. We have had good starts with the bat but we fell away in the middle and at the end. Today we had a solid batting performance all through. With the ball, it has been tough for us. We haven’t been great with the ball this competition so far.  We sort of got it right today. I still feel we haven’t played a good 40 overs yet. We played very well for 30 overs today. If we get it right in all departments, I don’t think anybody can touch us. If we managed to get Kyle our earlier, I don’t think they would have got to 100. If we can get a good 40 overs on Saturday and further on, I don’t think anyone is going to touch us. 

On Ryan Rickelton’s stellar run of form

Ryan started really well. He has been the most consistent batter in the tournament. He has put a lot of work into his T20 batting. He went back to the drawing board and put a lot into his batting. It’s great to open the batting with him, because we really bat well together. We communicate well, and at time we are talking to each other when we are not at our best. Today we put on 60-odd in about five overs, which in any situation is a good start for the team. Really happy with that. Let’s hope for Ryan’s sake since he got 500 runs in nine games, that we can get to the playoffs. If he can put in a few more performances, he’s definitely a Player of the Tournament nominee. 

On Dewald Brevis joining the party

With Brevis, we saw what he could do. The challenge for him is to put it together. He has learnt a lot through the season. In the last season he started well and then fell off a bit. He is still very young. People forget how young he is. He will take a lot of confidence from tonight, coming from that slump of not putting runs in the first eight matches. Let’s hope for our sake we make it to the playoffs because we have players, guys like Brevis, brings a lot of x-factor, and he is a guy who can win the game on his own. 

On the Capitals’ performance tonight

They’ve got match-winners in their lineup. All teams are so strong. They played an extra batter as well today. They were happy chasing. So looking objectively, winning a high-scoring match by 30 runs is massive for us, away from home in their conditions. We were put under pressure in some situations, but we were landing that first punch right from the start. But at the halfway stage, the game was won. I didn’t see them chasing 250. I was backing us, because once they lose a wicket, it gets very tough. I was thinking when I got out that we must get to 220. 250 was a great score. The way we fell away at the back, putting in a complete performance, and finding a way to get over the line, is the challenge for us in the next 48 hours.