Search on for balls as Blitz hit Stars far
● The Cape Town Blitz eased to their fourth consecutive Mzansi Super League win when they brushed aside the Jozi Stars by 62 runs.
Having lost the toss and batted first, the log leaders (18), who are now 10 points clear of the second-placed Nelson Mandela Bay Giants (eight), collected 198/5 through superb innings from Quinton de Kock (74) and Janneman Malan (66).
The Stars were bundled out for 136 in 17.4 overs, gifting Ashwell Prince’s side a bonus point.
The spine of the Stars’ was broken in four overs when Dale Steyn (2/23) and Anrich Nortje (3/30) got rid of Reeza Hendricks (0), Rassie van der Dussen(0) and Ryan Rickelton (14) to leave the hosts at 32/3.
The contest became a procession after the losses of Pite van Biljon (23) and Dane Vilas (29) in the 10th overs, leaving the hosts with too much to do at 81/5.
Left-arm spinner George Linde (3/25) polished off the tail while Andile Phehlukwayo (2/12) dealt with the middle order.
Propelled by De Kock’s ballistic 36-ball cameo, the Blitz should have made more than 198.
With a short boundary towards the South side of the ground, sixes were pumped with relish. De Kock, who murdered anything short on both sides, hit two of his five maximums in the Kent Park Taverners direction.
One of them necessitated a ball change and a towering Malan six that landed on the roof of the flats next to the ground also necessitated a ball change. In all, four balls were lost because of the short boundary.
The sub-200 total effectively wasted the high octane start by Malan and De Kock.
The right-handed Malan was happy to watch on as De Kock did almost all the heavy power-play lifting.
In the six overs, the Cape side ransacked 70 runs, 52 to De Kock in just 24 balls. When he holed out to Van der Dussen at mid-on off Duanne Olivier (3/40), he'd smeared nine fours on top of five half-dozens.
At 103/1 at the halfway mark, the score should have been doubled but the Stars finally found the missing fuller lengths that allowed the ball to swing.