SEC hand us another heartbreak, but we will bounce back

MI Cape Town lost to Sunrisers Eastern Cape at Newlands with a narrow two-wicket loss.

Opener Ryan Rickleton and top-order batter Grant Roelofsen shared a century stand for the second wicket to lay the foundation for a big total for MICT. Roelofsen played a sublime knock of 56 off 36 deliveries to slam a fine half-century. The wicketkeeper-batter's innings was studded with 7 fours and a couple of sixes.

Opener Rickleton played a valuable knock of 46 off 36 balls. Meanwhile, Delano Potgieter (21 off 13) and Odean Smith (25 off 13) played brilliant cameos in the slog overs with the final over going for 23 runs to help MICT post a competitive 171/6.

Kagiso Rabada was the pick of the bowlers and returned with figures of 3/34. The right-arm pacer again impressed with his control and pace.

Jofra Archer once again impressed all with his bowling effort and returned with figures of 1/18 in 4 overs.

Reflecting on his team's performance in the game, captain Rashid said the team will look to come back stronger in their next game against Paarl Royals on January 21st at Boland Park. 

“I think 171 was a decent total to defend with the kind of bowling we have (but it wasn't our day). There were a lot of things to learn for me personally from this game. You have to keep moving and can't get stuck on a day. Tomorrow the sun rises again and you'll have to think positively and come back stronger,” Rashid stated. 

MICT head coach Simon Katich claimed his team did 80 per cent of the things right in this game and they will look to take the confidence from the matches they won while entering into the second half of the game. 

“We need to pick ourselves up as we are halfway through the stage. We can't dwell much on the past because it will also affect your next game. Only 20 per cent of the game went sideways for us today. We batted pretty decently in this game and the batsmen did well today and got us into a good position. We have batted with more intent today. The pitch here generally is tough to bat in the first ten overs and our batters have addressed that well in this game. We played well but couldn't finish it in the end,” said Katich.

Giving due credit to Ryan Rickleton and Dewald Brevis contributions to the team and the impact they've had in the tournament, the former Australia cricketer said, “I've been pretty impressed with both the players. Ryan, obviously, has played for South Africa and he's had a very good season leading into this tournament. Young (Dewald) Brevis is also a potential match-winner for us and he has the appetite to learn. So there are plenty of positives for us.”