Kohli not a fan of the pink ball
DAMP SQUIB: WEATHER MESSES UP GAME THAT HAD EXCITING MOMENTS
In 17.1 overs of action, Tshwane Spartans held upper hand over Durban Heat.
The Tshwane Spartans and the Durban Heat were not even able to use the DLS system to get a result in their Mzansi Super League match at Centurion last night as rain had the final say 13 balls into the visiting team’s run-chase.
The Durban Heat have now had three of their four games washed out, having lost to the Cape Town Blitz in the only completed match they did play. But they had the advantage of winning the toss and getting to chase in what was always likely to be a rain-shortened game at SuperSport Park.
In the 17.1 overs of action that were possible, the Tshwane Spartans held the upper hand. Dean Elgar was able to use his cricketing nous and no little skill as he compiled a brisk 57 not out off 37 balls that drove the home side to 141 for four in their 15 overs.
Their innings had gone swimmingly until the 14th over as they used the excellent platform of an opening stand of 81 off 51 deliveries between Elgar and Theunis de Bruyn (40 off 25) to get to 124 for three, with captain Heinrich Klaasen adding 23 off 16 balls before he was dismissed just a delivery before the first rain interruption.
The Spartans returned 40 minutes later to ostensibly face 14 more balls, but in the end they could manage only eight more before the rain returned, Wiaan Mulder scoring six off two balls.
The spin of Keshav Maharaj had been the most effective weapon for the Durban Heat, the slow left-armer conceding 20 runs in his three overs, 10 of which came from successive blows over midon by Klaasen.
The game resumed after another 45-minute delay with the Durban Heat setting a revised target of 66 in five overs.
But Lungi Ngidi stepped up and dismissed Wesley Marshall and Wihan Lubbe with the first two deliveries of the innings, both being caught on the pull.
The over also only went for two runs, leaving the Durban Heat needing 64 off 24 balls. Dane Vilas upped the run-rate by hitting Tom Curran’s first two deliveries for massive leg-side sixes as 19 runs came off the second over.
Morne Morkel uprooted Vilas’s off-stump with his first delivery, however, but with the Durban Heat on 21 for three after 2.1 overs, the rain returned to mess up a game that provided several exciting moments but ended as another damp squib.