MI CAPE TOWN QUARTET CONTINUE TO PILE ON THE RUNS

MI Cape Town’s Betway SA20 title-winning quartet Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen, Dewald Brevis and Reeza Hendricks’ rich vein of batting form has continued.

Rickelton, who is the leading run-scorer in Betway SA20 history and fresh off another successful Season 3, struck his maiden ODI century for the Proteas in their ICC Champions Trophy opener against Afghanistan in Karachi on Friday.

The left-hander was superb throughout his 103 off 106 balls (7x4, 1x6) to drive the Proteas to an emphatic 107-run victory. 

“I am just really trying to simplify my batting. I have quite a nice foundation about what I want to achieve at the moment,” Rickelton said. 

“I’ve always wanted to be a three-format player, so to have that base is quite nice and to see that the results in the three different formats over the last two months has been quite warming for me as well. 

“But I think when I dumb it down a little bit for even myself I am just trying to obviously emphasize more mindset and approach. I'm really just trying to keep it simple, be confident in the way I'm trying to play and obviously look to make an impact.”

MI Cape Town were well represented in Karachi with Rickelton and Van der Dussen along with fast bowler Kagiso Rabada facing their teammates Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai and Sediqullah Atal.

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Facing Rashid regularly in the nets over the past month and watching him closely out in the middle certainly helped both Rickelton and Van der Dussen as they managed to keep the MI Cape Town skipper wicketless in his 10 allotted overs.

Although Rickelton wasn’t paired with Van der Dussen upfront as they are with MI Cape Town, the duo still shared a brisk 44-run stand off 40 balls for the third wicket.

Van der Dussen played with a great deal of intent during his 52 off 46 balls (3x4, 2x6). 

Meanwhile, back home in the 1-Day Cup, Hendricks and Brevis continued their love affair with Centurion in a high-scoring thriller between the Lions and Titans.

Hendricks’ stroked another classy 94 off 93 balls (10x4, 3x6) to propel the Lions to 300/9. 

The stylish right-hander’s last three scores at Centurion are now 117 (Proteas T20I against Pakistan), 77* (MI Cape Town against the Pretoria Capitals) and Friday night’s 94. 

Fellow MI Cape Town batters Delano Potgieter (42 off 35 balls) and Connor Esterhuizen (37 off 35 balls) also made worthwhile contributions in the middle-order.

Brevis, however, went even one better with the Season 3 Rising Star showing off with a blistering 102 off just 75 balls (6x4, 7x6) against a high-quality Lions attack.

The 21-year-old struck a few outrageous sixes straight down the ground, but undoubtedly the shot of the night was his “no-look” flick off the pads that sailed far and deep on to the grass banks. 

Unfortunately, Brevis was dismissed at the death to leave the Titans falling short by four runs.