Davids likened to a fine wine

Paarl Rocks captain Faf du Plessis likened star man Henry Davids (above) to a good bottle of red wine after he tore into the Tshwane Spartans attack in the Mzansi Super League (MSL) final on Monday to help them win the second edition of the competition at Boland Park.

The 39-year-old clobbered the quickest half-century of the campaign in the deciding match of 2019 as the hosts won by eight wickets, fittingly in the Cape Winelands.

Chasing a modest target – kept to 148 thanks to outstanding bowling by Tabraiz Shamsi (2/29) and Isuru Udana (2/24) – veteran Davids blew away the bowling with 77 off 44 balls (8 fours, 4 sixes), including a 22-ball 50, as the Rocks won with more than five overs to spare.

“Henry is like a good bottle of red wine; he just gets better the later the tournament goes and with age,” Du Plessis said. “I was very proud of his performance tonight.

“And once again it was a different guy standing up and putting in a good performance, which has been the case pretty much in every game this season. It’s an unbelievable team performance.”

Du Plessis surprised most by opting to bowl first after winning the toss in front of a sell-out crowd. But his bowlers, led by Shamsi and Udana, all fired.

Only AB de Villiers managed to hurt the home side with his 51 off 37 balls (3 fours, 1 six), although that hardly hurt a confident home side, who eventually ran out as deserved winners of MSL 2.0.

“I know our attack pretty well and we’re a very good attack when it comes to taking pace off the ball,” the skipper explained. “I expected it to be a touch slower in the first innings and then hopefully at night the ball just starts skidding on. That’s exactly what happened.”

Davids then led a dominant showing for his side, and, with help coming from Dwaine Pretorius (43 off 20 balls), the home side won with a hefty 34 deliveries to spare.

It was a superb effort by a team not given too much of chance considering the injuries that have hit them, but they were galvanised excellently by the national captain and coach Adrian Birrell, to take the title from the inaugural winners, the Jozi Stars.

“To finish the way we did was great. I though the last two games were our best games of the campaign,” Du Plessis added.