Dewald Brevis blasts MI Cape Town to victory as SA20 off to cracking start

The new SA20 league kicked off in entertaining fashion at Newlands on Tuesday night as MI Cape Town were full value for their crushing eight-wicket win with 27 balls to spare over the Paarl Royals, the home side starting their campaign with a bonus point triumph.

Although league commissioner Graeme Smith, CSA and the other stakeholders probably wanted a closer contest to start the new competition, the sheer quality of MI Cape Town’s performance was top entertainment in itself.

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From the performance of their attack, which covers all the bases, to the awesome batting talent of Dewald Brevis, who served up a matchwinning 70 not out off 41 balls, peppering the boundary over and over, the 11 115 spectators at Newlands were treated to superb cricket.

Another future star in Ryan Rickelton (42 off 33) helped Brevis put on 90 off 65 balls for the first wicket, attacking from the outset and racing to 50 in the seventh over, after the MI Cape Town attack had restricted Paarl Royals to just 142/7. The big stage certainly did not inhibit the 19-year-old Brevis nor the 26-year-old Rickelton.

Things might have been different for Paarl had Dane Vilas taken a simple catch at mid-off in the first over, Rickelton driving too early at a full ball from Codi Yusuf. The left-hander was eventually bowled by West Indian Ramon Simmonds, but Sam Curran then came in and scored a breezy, run-a-ball 20 to help Brevis seal the bonus point win.

Having been sent in to bat, the Royals were heavily reliant on their two star batsmen – Jos Buttler (51 off 42) and David Miller (42 off 31), who added 48 for the fourth wicket.

Magic in the details

Fast bowlers Jofra Archer (4-1-27-3) and Ollie Stone (4-0-31-2) provided the bulk of the wickets, but the magic of the MI Cape Town attack was in the details.

Archer, having had Miller caught on the cover boundary, then bowled a cunning slower ball first up to Ferisco Adams, who was no doubt psyched up for his debut on the big stage and expecting a thunderbolt from the England fast bowler, only to be thoroughly deceived and caught at extra cover.

Leg-spinner Rashid Khan (4-0-28-0) was as difficult as ever to get away and young left-armer Duan Jansen took 1/16 in three overs, claiming the wicket of England’s World Cup winner Jason Roy (13) in a precise seventh over.

Curran’s left-arm seam was also highly effective, the new T20 star conceding just 23 runs in his three overs.

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