‘Nobody will touch us’: Van der Dussen fires warning at SA20 opposition

Top-order batter Rassie van der Dussen has sent a warning to MI Cape Town’s opponents, claiming they will be unbeatable if they are able to hit their straps in all departments, as they remain locked in a hard-fought contest for a spot in the SA20 playoffs.

The Cape Town outfit produced a superb performance with the bat in their 34-run victory over fellow strugglers Pretoria Capitals in Centurion on Thursday, but they let it slip with the ball.

Ryan Rickelton bashed 90 runs off 45 balls, steering the visitors to 248/4, as they looked set for a runaway victory.

And while they had the Capitals reeling at 42/6 in their chase, Kyle Verreynne produced a spectacular fight to give the Cape Town side a scare.

Verreynne hit 116 not out off 52 deliveries, in an innings which featured nine sixes. Though he contributed the highest ever score in the SA20 competition, however, he didn’t receive enough support as the home side reached 214/8 in their 20 overs.

Not there yet

“We’ve had good starts with the bat and then fallen away in the middle and at the end sometimes,” said Van der Dussen.

“Today we had a really solid batting performance all the way through, and that’s probably what won us the game.

“We haven’t been great with the ball in this competition so far, and we sort of got it right today, but I feel we still haven’t played a really good 40 overs yet.

“We’ve played well at stages, and today we played very well for 30 overs, but the flip side of that is when we get it right in all departments I don’t think anyone is going to touch us.”

While MI Cape Town climbed two places to fourth in the league standings, the Capitals slipped to bottom spot. Both sides were still battling it out with fifth-placed Joburg Super Kings for the last available place in the knockout stages.

The Pretoria and Cape Town sides will clash again in their return match at Newlands on Saturday (starting at 1.30pm), in their last games of the first round, and the Super Kings host Durban’s Super Giants later in the day (5.30pm) at the Wanderers.