Ken Borland

While Northern Cape came within a whisker of upsetting the Lions, South-Western Districts suggested that Division II of local cricket will not be weak as they beat Western Province by three wickets with two balls to spare in the CSA Provincial T20 Cup at the Diamond Oval in Kimberley on Saturday.

A weak batting effort by Western Province after they elected to bat saw them slump to 49 for five as seamer Hershell America returned an outstanding three for 22 in his four overs. Western Province were lifted to 130 for seven by Aviwe Mgijima, with a run-a-ball 35, and Kyle Simmonds, who struck a determined 46 not out off 32 balls.

SWD’s other new-ball bowler, Renaldo Meyer, was also excellent, taking one for 20 in his four overs, while off-sinner Pheko Moletsane took two for 12 in two overs.

SWD were indebted in their run-chase to opener Yaseen Valli, who has been around the block for more than a week, as he steered them home with his run-a-ball 55 not out. SWD were five for two inside the first two overs, but Valli and the experienced Andre Malan (21) added 48 for the third wicket to settle them down.

Heath Richards, Moletsane, Meyer and Sean Whitehead then all reached double-figures as they helped Valli seal a big win over their local rivals. Western Province’s three left-arm quicks – Nandre Burger (2-21), Beuran Hendricks (4-1-18-1) and Wayne Parnell (1-29) all bowled well but had too much to do. 

There are still six weeks of action remaining in the Indian Premier League, but notwithstanding the weak performances of the Proteas T20 side, there were some strong showings by South Africans in the first week of the biggest tournament in cricket, highlighted by David Miller and Chris Morris combining to steer the Rajasthan Royals to a thrilling win over the Delhi Capitals.

AB de Villiers had not played a competitive game of cricket since the previous IPL finished in November, but he opened his 2021 campaign with a matchwinning 48 off 27 balls for the Bangalore Royal Challengers in their thrilling win over the defending champion Mumbai Indians. In their next game, he was still trying to work out the wizardry of leg-spinner Rashid Khan when he was dismissed for just a single.

Chris Morris has had a frustrating start to the IPL in terms of his fast bowling, having figures of two for 41 in four and one for 27 in three overs, but he vanquished all those negativities as he roared to 36 not out off just 18 balls to win a thriller for the Rajasthan Royals against the Delhi Capitals.

David Miller missed the Rajasthan Royals’ loss to the Sikhs from the Punjab Kings in their opening game, but played hide-and-seek with the Delhi Capitals’ bowlers, hammering 62 off just 43 deliveries as he led the recovery that was finished by Morris after coming in at 17 for three.

Marco Jansen has been thrust into the limelight at the IPL from the outset by the champion Mumbai Indians, but the 20-year-old has shown immense heart with the ball. His debut was impressive as he took two wickets in the 15^th over of the Bangalore innings, including that of Glenn Maxwell, finishing with fine figures of two for 28 in his four overs. He then bowled two overs for 17 runs against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Unfortunately he has made ducks in both his visits to the crease.

Kagiso Rabada played in that thrilling Rajasthan Royals’ loss to the Delhi Capitals and was the bowler of that penultimate over that cost 15 runs as Chris Morris hit him for two sixes. Rabada had been excellent with the ball before that, taking two for 15 in three overs. He also scored nine not out off four balls with the bat.

Quinton de Kock missed the first game and then scored just two off six balls, but he can still console himself with the fact that his Mumbai Indians team can still defend a low total like 152 as they beat Kolkata by 10 runs.

Faf du Plessis never got going in his opening IPL match, being dismissed for a three-ball duck as the Chennai Super Kings lost by seven wickets to the Delhi Capitals.

Lungi Ngidi and Imran Tahir have not yet played a game, while Anrich Nortje’s participation with the Delhi Capitals was delayed by a false positive Covid test.