Paarl Royals Win by One Run
Pearl Royals 181 for 3 (Pretorius 98*, Tribe 51, Rashid 2-31) beat MI Cape town 180 for 8 (Van der Dussen 59, Rickelton 36, Baartman 4-51, Raza 3-27) by one run
Defending SA20 champions MI Cape Town couldn’t pull off the chase in either of their home games. They’ve now stumbled while attempting the biggest target in Paarl, too. They remain winless after four games, losing a nail-biter at Boland Park by just one run, leaving them at the bottom of the table.
Victory was especially sweet for Paarl Royals. They started strong, scoring quickly to reach 181 – their highest total at this venue – and than defended it fiercely on a slow pitch.Paarl will be notably pleased with the return to form of young opener Lhuan-dre Pretorius, whose T20 career-best 98 anchored their innings, and the relentless effort from their bowlers.
MICT lost five wickets for just nine runs in 18 balls,turning the game into a tense battle. They needed 50 runs from the last four overs, 30 from the last two, and 15 off the final over, thanks to a 51-run partnership between George Linde and Rashid Khan. However, Baartman broke the stand in the final over and crucially took the wicket of Kagiso Rabada, finishing with remarkable figures of 4 for 51. This performance also made Baartman the second bowler, after Marco Jansen, to reach 50 SA20 wickets.