Ken Borland

Dewald Brevis may be just 18 years old and was playing only his second senior T20 match, but he showed he is one of the cool cats when it comes to finishing an innings as he steered the Northerns Titans to a seven-wicket win with 15 balls remaining against the KZN Dolphins in the CSA T20 Challenge at St George’s Park on Monday.

Northerns were chasing 135 in 19 overs to win, and although Theunis de Bruyn (24) and Quinton de Kock (26) made a solid start by adding 53 off 43 balls, they were both dismissed in the space of two overs, leaving the Titans with 71 to win off 61 deliveries.

Brevis, who Mumbai Indians paid R6 million for in the IPL auction at the weekend, began cautiously, but then opened up in the latter stages as he stroked an impressive 46 not out off 30 balls, with four fours and two sixes.

Sibonelo Makhanya helped add the finishing touches to the innings with a busy 21 not out off just 11 deliveries.

Thando Ntini was the best of the KZN bowlers with 2/21 in four overs.

Northerns had earlier won an important toss after morning rain had delayed the start of play, sending KZN in and reducing them to 28/3 as their seamers proved too testing for the Dolphins top-order.

But David Miller, the country’s premier finisher, lashed 57 not out off 40 balls and was helped in turning the innings around by Jason Smith (38).

While the Northerns pacemen – Lizaad Williams (4-0-29-1), Junior Dala (4-0-27-2) and Aya Gqamane (1-0-3-1) – prospered, left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso was also outstanding, conceding just 19 runs in four overs.

In Monday’s other game, Wihan Lubbe (24 off 21) and Lesiba Ngoepe (27 off 21) ensured there was an advantageous platform laid for the Eastern Province Warriors, but Tristan Stubbs once again stole the show with a brilliant, fiery 65 off just 35 balls, taking them to a daunting 170/5.

But the Free State Knights’ opening pair of debutant Christoffel Klijnhans and Jacques Snyman then stole Stubbs’ thunder as they added a massive 156 in 17 overs to set up a nine-wicket win with eight balls to spare, their first in the competition.

While Snyman, who also took 2/23 in three overs with his part-time off-spin, was dismissed for a matchwinning 90 off just 52 deliveries, Klijnhans batted through to score an impressive 67 not out off 54 balls.

Ferisco Adams produced outstanding death bowling as Boland Rocks staged a great escape to beat the North-West Dragons in a Super Over in their CSA T20 Challenge match at St George’s Park on Sunday.

At some stage on Sunday, Dwaine Pretorius’s cellphone would have pinged with a message telling him that he will going to his maiden IPL tournament at the end of the summer and the Proteas all-rounder celebrated by battering 74 off 51 balls. It was an innings that seemed to have secured victory for the Dragons as they went into the final over needing just nine runs to win, with Pretorius and Delano Potgieter (37* off 27) flying as they had already added 94 in nine overs.

But Adams restricted North-West to just four singles off the first five deliveries, and Pretorius was forced to hook the final delivery for four just to tie the game and ensure a Super Over.

Then Adams missed his length with his first ball, Potgieter slog-sweeping a full toss for six, but Pretorius was then run out by Adams, who fielded a fierce straight hit and Potgieter was caught at long-off next ball, meaning the Dragons were all out.

Boland needed just three balls to get the seven runs they needed, Janneman Malan edging one boundary and reverse-paddling the other off Duan Jansen.

North-West were chasing 183 for victory and Pretorius came to the crease after opener Wesley Marshall, who blasted 34 off just 16 balls, had taken them to 42/2 in four overs.

The lanky 32-year-old took a little while to get going, but captain Nicky van den Bergh was playing fluently at the other end with his 28 off 19. But once he was bowled by off-spinner Imraan Manack, Pretorius changed gear and struck sixes off Manack and Zakhele Qwabe in the 12^th and 13^th overs.

Spinners Siyabonga Mahima (4-0-25-1), Manack (4-0-28-1) and Shaun von Berg (1-0-5-0) all bowled tidily for Boland.

Boland had posted 182/6 in a well-structured innings that saw Janneman Malan dash to 33 off 18 balls up front, while his brother Pieter anchored the innings with 53 off 46.

Christiaan Jonker provided the big finish with 37 off 19 deliveries, helped by Hardus Viljoen scoring 19 off just eight balls.

Pretorius (4-0-33-1) and Potgieter (2-0-10-1) both did well with the ball as well, but 19-year-old leg-spinner Caleb Seleka was the pick of the North-West bowlers with two for 20 in his four overs.

While Boland have broken North-West’s winning run, Western Province notched their third successive victory when they beat the Central Gauteng Lions by five wickets with five balls to spare.

Sent in to bat, the Lions posted just 140/5 with Shane Dadswell (27 off 16) and Mitchell van Buuren, who bashed 44 off 34 balls, adding 48 for the third wicket in 5.2 overs. Sisanda Magala finished well with 19 not out off 15 deliveries, but Kagiso Rapulana took 36 balls over his 32 not out.

Beuran Hendricks (4-1-26-2) and Wayne Parnell (4-0-24-0) were tough to get away, but spinner Junaid Dawood broke the Lions’ momentum with 2/23 in his four middle overs.

Gavin Kaplan (39 off 32) and Tony de Zorzi (42 off 31) added 47 for the second wicket in six overs to give WP a fine start, but the Lions gave themselves a sniff by reducing them to 113/5 with four overs left.

But Yaseen Vallie (21*) and Aviwe Mgijima (16*) broke the Lions’ hearts.

Magala (4-0-24-1) and Codi Yusuf (4-0-20-1) were excellent with the ball for the Lions.

This summer’s premier T20 tournament may be confined to a bubble in Gqeberha, but there has still been space for some highly entertaining, impressive cricket in the first week of the CSA T20 Challenge.

The eight provinces have all played twice and the Boland Rocks and Free State Knights are the only teams who have not yet won a game. Overall it has been a highly competitive event, with Boland coming agonisingly close to beating the Northerns Titans.

The North-West Dragons, with the only bonus point so far, and Western Province are the two sides who have won both their matches, but the gap between them and the KZN Dolphins, Central Gauteng Lions, Northerns and Eastern Province Warriors is not large.

The Lions get the chance to show that on Sunday when they take on WP.

Looking at the bigger picture, and a future that includes another T20 World Cup in October/November in Australia, who are the players that the national selectors will be keeping an eye on?

One first needs to ask where are the gaps in the current Proteas team, who performed better than expected in the previous T20 World Cup, albeit in conditions that will be very different to Australia.

The well-travelled David Miller has world-class T20 stats – he averaged 47 last year at a strike-rate of 149 – and is a certainty for Australia, but there is hopefully space in the squad for another finisher, someone who can be groomed to succeed the 32-year-old somewhere down the line.

Two youngsters who have caught the eye are the 21-year-old Tristan Stubbs of EP and 23-year-old Donovan Ferreira of the Titans. They are scoring at a strike-rate of 189 and 152 respectively in this tournament, while Stubbs has a career strike-rate of 148 and Ferreira 157.

The Lions owe a considerable debt to Sisanda Magala for ensuring they are not with Boland and Free State at the bottom of the log with zero points. The burly pace bowler has been superb with the ball, especially at the death, and his eight overs so far have cost just 6.62 runs per over, and he chipped in with a couple of key wickets that killed off the KZN charge to victory on Thursday.

Magala also shone with the bat. Coming in at 95/5 in the 12^th over, he scored a punishing 37 off just 27 balls to lift the Lions to 156/8, which proved to be just enough.

Magala has not yet shown the same expertise at international level, but in a team that is often criticised for their bowling skills on flat pitches (expected in Australia), he brings a package that still looks useful.

South Africa will no doubt have to restructure their team a bit in Australia to reflect the more pace-friendly conditions, but young fast bowlers have not exactly been shoving their hands up in the CSA T20. The best quicks have been veterans like Magala, Hardus Viljoen, Junior Dala and Beuran Hendricks.

But it has been pleasing to see the change in mindset surrounding the use of spin that Mark Boucher spearheaded in the national team start to filter down to the provinces. Spinners have done wonderfully well on the slow pitches at St George’s Park and some potential stars are starting to come through.

Left-armer Johannes Diseko has been key to North-West’s surprise charge to the top of the log, while Proteas like George Linde, Senuran Muthusamy, Bjorn Fortuin and Aaron Phangiso continue to shine.

Prenelan Subrayen has shown he is a quality off-spinner and Imraan Manack is key to the Boland attack; 19-year-old leg-spinner Caleb Seleka looks highly promising for North-West too.

Most positively, the presence of Proteas stars like Miller, Tabraiz Shamsi, Janneman Malan, Quinton de Kock and Dwaine Pretorius has ensured that quality runs through this summer’s CSA T20 Challenge.

The supposed ills of the Central Gauteng Lions team turned out to be hypochondria more than anything else as they surged back to their best with an impressive eight-run win over the powerful KZN Dolphins in the CSA T20 Challenge at St George’s Park on Thursday.

Electing to bat first, the Lions were hyper-aggressive from the outset, but they lost three wickets in the powerplay. Shane Dadswell was the one top-order batsman to stick around for a while, scoring a pugnacious 42 off 28 balls.

But the Lions were in trouble at 113/6 in the 15^th over and they were grateful to Sisanda Magala, who stated his batting credentials in no uncertain fashion with a punishing 37 off 27 deliveries, for getting them to a healthy 156/8.

Jason Smith (3-0-16-3) and Ruan de Swardt (4-0-32-3) did most of the damage for KZN, but off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen was their most testing bowler with 1/26 in his four overs.

Left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin (4-0-16-2) then took two wickets up front to reduce the Dolphins to 26/3, but the KZN side may have been imagining they were still in with a shout when Grant Roelofsen (34 off 26), Khaya Zondo (35) and Smith (39 off 34) were at the crease.

But Magala (4-0-26-2) was then outstanding with the ball at the death, as was Malusi Siboto (4-0-23-2) through the innings, as KZN were restricted to 148/8.

Earlier, the North-West Dragons had ruthlessly slit the throats of the Free State Knights, restricting them to a parlous 94/9.

Spinners Johannes Diseko (4-0-19-2) and Senuran Muthusamy (4-0-8-2) were superb, well-supported by left-arm quick Duan Jansen (4-1-16-1). North-West were also extremely slick in the field, effecting three run outs.

Openers Wesley Marshall (43 off 29) and Heino Kuhn (30* off 20) were then clinical in chasing down the target after 10.1 overs, earning North-West an eight-wicket win and a bonus point.