Blitz vs Stars, Final at Cape Town, MSL 2018, Dec 16 2018 - Match Result

7:07pm The champagnes are out and the party has begun. A strong start for South Africa's first franchise-based T20 tournament. We've had a great time bringing it to you and we hope you enjoyed our company. Have a good evening!

Your next stop on the franchise T20 caravan is the IPL auction. Have a listen to our latest Talking T20 podcast, where our crew have put together an all-you-need-to-know primer.

Dane Vilas, Jozi Stars captain: I'm so excited. It's an unbelievable team performance. We knew it was going to be tough, weren't expecting the pitch to be as tough as it was. When Dale was bowling, he made us nervous. But credit to Reeza and Rassie. It's difficult in such a quick tournament like this to pull together. Credit must go to everyone, our management staff - even our bus driver has been an inspiration. I just hope it [MSL] can get better. I don't know how it can get much better than this. It's a great time to be involved in cricket, especially in South Africa. Long may this continue.

QDK: I've had a great tournament personally. Disappointing today but still proud of my team. We are all very excited (about the MSL). It's not a normal T20, it's a bigger stage. We've shown the rest of the world what we can do, just proud to finally have our own tournament. It's nice to always be scoring runs, I wish I could always do it, but life isn't like that.

Quinton de Kock is the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament.(Man of the Series)

Gihahn Cloete is the Fielder of the Tournament.

Rassie van der Dussen is the Batsman of the Tournament.

Duanne Olivier is the Bowler of the Tournament.

Beuran: I've been here for six years before, so in my mind I knew how to bowl in these conditions and it worked out today. I think the bowling unit just communicate well with each other. Everyone brings a different skillset. It's a big stepping stone for me, coming off a couple of years injury and letdowns. This is a stepping stone to get back to where I want to be.

Beuran Hendricks is the Man of the Match.

Farhaan Behardien, Captain of Cape Town Blitz: We've done really well over the campaign. Played good cricket at times. The decision was to bat first. We felt the wicket was going to get slower and lower. We just never built up enough partnerships and we couldn't have any momentum at the end. We played well as a unit throughout the league stage, we'll take some lessons from this knockout game. We'll lick our wounds and come back better next year. I felt I was connected to the players. I've always played under players like Albie Morkel, but for me to lead a team like this has been a feather in my cap.

Kagiso Rabada: We didn't come off a great start, but it was a great environment when I joined the team. Aussie Christian here enjoyed it. We just decided to give it our best shot and I'm glad it came off.

Dan Christian: I suppose I've done okay, yeah. One of the great thing about our performance is we've had different match winners almost every game. To know you've got the best bowler in the world (Rabada) in your arsenal gives confidence.

Rassie van der Dussen: Unbelievable. We started off a bit shaky, but we knew if we could get it right, we could beat any team. I couldn't have imagined it any better. There's so many stand out performers in our team, that's why we won. The public has loved the MSL. I've never been approached by the public so many times. They've warmed up to it.

6:36pm Hugs and handshakes and fireworks. It wasn't an exciting final by T20 standards, but it has come alive at the end. A thoroughly deserved win for Jozi Stars: if not for their consistency through the tournament, then certainly for their professionalism today. They came out with plans, they used their bowlers to good effect, and didn't give the home team anything. Cape Town Blitz have questions to answer in terms of some of their decision making, and it'll particularly hurt that they went down without resistance in front of their supporters. But it was a great tournament for them as well, the table-toppers in the group stage. Just couldn't put it together in the end.

Ross: "Van der dussen player of the tournament for me. Such a clean hitter"

Barry de Klerk: "Few better batting brains out there looking at vd Dussen. Know how to pace a innings, and I think nobody more surprised as us South Africans"