Mpumalanga Rhinos finish CSA T20 Knockout season on a high

The Mpumalanga Rhinos finished the 2024 CSA T20 Knockout on an all-time high, winning two games in a row for the first time in a T20 competition since the advent of the new franchise system.

The Rhinos’ season had a slightly dismal outlook after their first four games in which they only received two points that came from a rained-out game against SWD. There were positive signs, but they would have to put a lot of effort into their final two games if they were to have a desirable end to their season.

First up was the Tuskers at the Pietermaritzburg City Oval. The Rhinos lost the toss and were asked to have a bat first. This decision paid off for the Tuskers as they had pinned the Rhinos down in the powerplay, with the men from the Lowveld on 33-3 after 4,4 overs.

Half-centuries from Benjamin van Niekerk (55*) and Jurie Snyman (53) along with a resilient 30 by Gareth Dukes late in the innings helped the Rhinos ultimately reach an on-par total of 172-5 in 20 overs.

The Tuskers came flying out of the gates as openers Cameron Shekleton and Kagiso Rapulana put the Rhinos bowlers to the sword in the powerplay. The hosts were 67-1 at the conclusion of the first six overs and looked set to cruise to victory. Another wicket fell shortly thereafter, but then Rapulana and Sean Gilson steadied the ship for the Tuskers.

The Rhinos bowlers, however, also tightened the screws with a great mid-innings spell by Snyman (4 overs, 1 wicket, 22 runs), arguably the deciding factor in the game. A leaky 19th over from Dukes left Jon Hinrichsen only five to defend in the last over. He put on a brilliant display of death bowling and only conceded four runs, meaning the game went to a super over.

Hinrichsen took the ball for the super over and the Tuskers only managed to score eight runs. Snyman and Van Niekerk strode out to the middle and managed to chase down the target of nine runs to secure a memorable victory for the Rhinos.

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The last game of the season for the Rhinos was on home soil at Uplands College against the Eastern Cape Inyathi.

It was the visitors who won the toss and chose to bat first. Other than Marco Marais scoring 75 and Christopher Gleaves scoring 39*, the Inyathi batsmen largely faltered in their pursuit of a good total. Hinrichsen was economical once more, while Dukes struggled to restrict runs but did claim two wickets as Inyathi reached 162-4 in 20 overs.

The Rhinos got off to a poor start once again, losing both openers cheaply by the end of the seventh over. Nonelela Yikha finally came good for the Rhinos, scoring 43 off 35 balls to end what has been a tough season for him on a positive note. Snyman (50) scored his third half-century of the season while Dukes tore the Inyathi bowlers apart, scoring 28* off nine balls to help secure a six-wicket victory for the Rhinos.

The two wins in the final two games for the Mpumalanga Rhinos means this is now their most successful T20 season to date, and they’ll be dearly hoping to carry the good form over into the four-day competition, which will start in November.