Rickel-ton headlines dominant MI Cape Town win

After going winless in the first five matches, MI Cape Town registered their second successive win against Joburg Super Kings, this time taking them down by 36 runs. However, they failed to secure a bonus point despite scoring 234 for 3.

Batting first in Johannesburg, MICT rode on Ryan Rickelton's 113 not out off 60 balls. This was Rickelton's second century of the season; no one else has more than one across four seasons of the SA20. Rassie van der Dussen also played a hand of 65 off 32, adding 129 in 10.2 overs with Rickelton for the first wicket.

JSK needed to pull off the highest chase in the SA20. Their chances were further reduced when Faf du Plessis was unavailable to bat after hurting his finger in the field. James Vince and Dian Forrester did put up a fight with their valiant half-centuries, but it was not enough.

The day started with du Plessis losing his sixth toss in seven games. He brought Donovan Ferreira along with him to flip the coin. While it didn't change du Plessis' luck, JSK got what they wanted when MICT opted to bat first. And when du Plessis had to walk off the field midway through MICT's innings, Ferreira stood in for him again.

The JSK bowlers did not start well. Daniel Worrall began with a wide down the leg side that went to the boundary. He bowled two more wides in the over and conceded 20 in all. Van der Dussen and Rickelton didn't look back after that. They matched each other shot for shot and took the side past 50 in just 3.3 overs.

Even after the powerplay, there was no respite for the JSK bowlers; van der Dussen and Rickelton hit four sixes in the following two overs. One of the sixes by van der Dussen was caught by Vince at long-on. But Vince's leg was very close to the boundary cushion before he lobbed the ball up, went outside, came back in and completed the catch. The TV umpire ruled it in the batter's favour, much to Vince's shock. In the next over, van der Dussen brought up his fifty, off 26 balls. Rickelton took just two more balls than his partner to get there.

Worrall put the brakes on the scoring rate with the wickets of van der Dussen and Nicholas Pooran. From over 13 to 17, MICT could score only 29 runs. Nandre Burger then had Rickelton caught for 87 but his joy was short-lived as the TV umpire found it to be a back-foot no-ball. As if to rub it in, Rickelton hit Burger's next three balls for 4, 4, 6. The six took him to his hundred off 54 balls. JSK couldn't stop the flow of runs after that, and the last three overs produced 55.

Vince kicked off the chase by hitting Trent Boult for three fours in the opening over. But there was little support from the other end. Opening the innings in du Plessis' absence, Michael Pepper fell for 2. Matthew de Villiers and Wiaan Mulder didn't last long either, leaving JSK at 35 for 3 inside five overs.

Vince, though, kept attacking, keeping JSK's hopes alive almost single-handedly. He hit at least one boundary in every over from the fourth to the 11th, including back-to-back sixes off Boult in the tenth. But Linde had him caught at short third for 77 off 43.

Forrester, who was on 16 off 13 at that point, then stepped up and started finding the boundary regularly. JSK needed eight in the last over to deny MICT a bonus point. Against Corbin Bosch, Forrester ran two on the first ball, refused a single on the next, and hit the third for a six to at least achieve that.