All over, pulled in the air. Hovers at catching height but it's well wide of mid-on. Fireworks are on, crowd are singing, it's buzzin' all around. Predictable last two balls from Smith, but that's what had brought him so much success, so can't blame him. Fuller was ready, smacked it, twists his wrist Carl Hooper style in celebration.
MI Cape Town vs Eastern Cape, 9th Match at Gqeberha, SA20, Jan 16 2023 - Ball by Ball Commentary
Eastern Cape won by 4 wickets (with 3 balls remaining)
The quality of cricket has been great, let's hope it continues. No teams without a win now. Thanks for tuning in. Hope you enjoyed our coverage. See you tomorrow for Paarl Royals vs Durban's Super Giants. You can catch up on the match reports and developments from the tournament on our SA20 newsfile. For now, it's me, Ekanth, signing off on behalf of my co-commentator, Ashish Pant, and our scorer, Venkat Raghav.
Aiden Markram, POTM and Sunrisers captain: Made it tough for ourselves but will make us happy which is important. I was gutten when out. Lot to learn and take away personally. Hats off to Jansen and Stubbs for clearing it. I get nervous watching from the side, knowing you can't make an impact. Certainly pleased now. Bowlers did a great job. Their margins of errors have been small, restricting MI under 160 was great. More of the same, I suppose. If we get the small things right, it will help us going forward.
Rashid Khan, MI Cape Town: It was close. I feel we were 15-20 short. But the way we bowled made me feel we were in till the end. It was a great performance, with the ball and in the field. It was a matter of going either side at the end. I feel we did a wonderful job. There are a few things to think about. It's important for us to move on, everyone knows their responsibility, enjoy, be mentally strong and give 100%.
The evening today started with cloud cover. The pitch was assisting the pacers, Cape Town understood they had to hit the pitch. Odean got it right, so did Rabada. They were outdone in parts by the batters but they were persistent.
The chase started with two early wickets. Curran got Rossington, a soft first-ball dismissal, and then got Smuts LBW. Erwee foiled with Aiden Markram who put up an aesthetic shot-making exhibition not devoid of power. I hope to have dreams of that cover drive he lofted into the outfield off Rabada. Rashid tried to shuffle his bowlers, tried to shake-up his act too. Got Erwee out to end a 92-run stand. Then Odean came on, got Markram for 50, trapped out Cox on review. The seesaw was in Cape Town's favour but Stubbs stood up tall. Got them on the verge of the win before Fuller finished it off.
9pm: Cracker of a game. Markram and Stubbs finding form are huge plusses for Sunrisers. MI Cape Town showed their mettle, fighting back from multiple difficult situations, taking it to the last over.
No, but he does get width. Slaps it through extra! Four, owners are delighted, crowd are chuffed. Sat up off the pitch, was a slower one.
Crowd are in it, Fuller's not getting anything full, is he?
Keeper celebrates, Odean looks disappointing. Stubbs is walking, kicking the ground and punching his bat furiously! Back-of-a-length missile, absolutely sizzled off the pitch. Stubbs went for the pull. Got a thin under edge. Another twist.
Mo: "Is Rashid brave enough to end with Linde?? He has been good today" It will be Odean
Stubbs is stepping up. He's taken them to the brink of victory, can he finish it off?
Bouncer is dragged from outside off to deep midwicket along the ground. Sunrisers' 150 is up
It's in the gap this time, deep cover can't run to point and stop this. Deal-sealer? Slower one on a length outside off, Stubbs reached out and carved it along the ground.
Van der Dussen runs across and cuts it off, saves three. Was a back of length ball outside off, flat batted in front. Was travelling, great work by the fielder.
Wide on a length, steered to deep point
Great crease use, clips the fullish ball off the legs to the deep-fine boundary. Crowd's alive again!
Stubbs makes room, Curran goes slow into the pitch outside off. Goes away with the angle outside the tramline. Wide called, Curran has the double teapot out
Bouncer outside off, pulled to long-on
Curran comes on
Arfaa: "Is it just me, or does Odean look absolutely gassed bowling just these two overs? " Not sure, let's see if he gets another one
The slower one aids the batter for once, the back of lengther at 101 kph outside off sits up. It was an off cutter, came in but that made it in the arc of the pull shot. Smoked over midwicket. Whirlwind over.
Full outside off, whipped along the ground to long-on
Hari: "@Ekanth What do you think about Rabada as a death overs bowler? Though he is a potent weapon, I feel in the last couple of overs, he isn't reliable at the death." He's better on pitches like this where going into the pitch is effective. He was smart too, mixing up pace.
Full toss outside off, the slower one is slapped into the pitch. Hit hard and Odean's ankle stops it in the follow-through
Slower one into the pitch, pulled. Not off the middle, in the gap to deep midwicket
Khadim: "Baffling that Odean Smith only bowled one over so far.. "
Back of length outside off, inside edge off the pull goes to pad. Ricochets to the off side
Back of length outside off, flat-batted. Not off the middle but safely to the right of the bowler. To long-on
Rabada finishes well. How will Odean fare now, his first over changed the game's course
Jens Gevers: "@Hari makes sense. There is quite a lot of cricket going around difficult to imagine that they can all be successful, but I guess football has shown that it's possible. Just hoping the crowds keep coming in as it makes the TV experience so much more enjoyable, the difference between this game and the game in the ILT20 today."
Wide full toss, Jansen scythes it. Opens the face to get it over point, deep cover runs across and manages to cut it off
Bouncer at head-height is pulled to square leg
Short over off, Jansen was trying either to ramp it or drive it with an open face off the back foot. Rose a bit too high, went off the edge into the ground, to the right of the bowler
Drumroll... StevO: "@Prateek: Yes. Because Tom ain't ABLE to play "
Slower one into the pitch does Jansen again. Not a replay of the second ball but might as well be.
Over 20 • SEC 162/6