Janneman Malan and Dale Steyn rode Cape Town Blitz past Jozi Stars in a high-scoring opening game of Mzansi Super League 2019 in Johannesburg on Friday (November 8).
Malan played a magnificent knock of 99 not out in 59 balls as Blitz posted a very strong 213/3 in 20 overs before Steyn came to the party with a spell of 3/25 that ensured the Stars fall short by 15 runs.
Read Also: Dale Steyn, JP Duminy back MSL to revive South African cricket
Blitz skipper Quinton de Kock (35), Moeen Ali (25), Liam Livingstone (21) and George Linde (24) were the other contributors with the willow.
Steyn, however, didn't have as much support in the bowling department as Stars reached as far as 198/5 in the chase with Reeza Hendricks (53-ball 80) delivering the stand-out knock and captain Temba Bavuma (38), Rassie van der Dussen (31) playing quickfire cameos but failing to take their team home.
Amidst bowlers, for Stars, only Daniel Christian (1/28) had a good outing.
Malan was awarded the "Player-of-the-Match". "It was good fun. Compliment to all my batting partners," he said after the win. "It was a flat wicket. Credit to Dale Steyn. He deserves this award for getting three wickets. We have a squad of 15 quality players. We can do well in this competition. It'd have been fun to get that extra run, but not too bothered about it."
De Kock was pleased to have got the campaign off to a winning start.
"This is the first game of the tournament, we just wanted to show other teams what we are," he said. "We wanted to stamp our authority. Janneman batted really well. All the batters batted superbly. Still getting used to it (captaincy). I want to lead from the front."
For Stars' captain Bavuma, it was a case of tipping his hat to the opponent. "They (Blitz) batted really well," he said. "We backed our batting line-up to chase down whatever target, but we couldn't close it off in the end. We'll take confidence from this game."
"I'm enjoying the captaincy, there's no pressure. It's all about having fun and entertaining the people."
Brief Scores:
Cape Town Blitz 213/3 in 20 overs (Janneman Malan 99*; Daniel Christian 1/28) beat Jozi Stars 198/5 in 20 overs (Reeza Hendricks 80; Dale Steyn 3/25) by 15 runs.
(Inputs from Cricbuzz)
