A fifty from Rassie van der Dussen guided Jozi Stars to the inaugural Mzansi Super League title, with an eight-wicket win against Cape Town Blitz.
Two wickets each for Beuran Hendricks and Duanne Olivier, and an economical spell by Simon Harmer kept Cape Town down to 113/7 at Newlands on Sunday, 16 December. Reeza Hendricks and van der Dussen chased it down in 17.3 overs.
Cape Town had won six out of 10 games in the league phase, and had in their midst the in-form Quinton de Kock, who would be named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. However, on the day, their batting didn’t come off.
De Kock was dismissed early by Beuran, and only captain Farhaan Behardien was able to inject some momentum into the innings.
Dale Styen, who smashed a useful 15 off nine balls, returned with the new ball to harry the Stars batsmen and even struck early. Reeza and van der Dussen, though, saw out his threat and knocked off the runs. It was van der Dussen’s third fifty in a row.
“Credit to Reeza and Dussen for seeing out Dale’s spell and taking us home,” said Dane Vilas, the winning skipper. “We really enjoyed each other’s company and that is what makes it special.”
“We have beaten some good sides but our bad day came unfortunately in the final,” rued Behardien.
Van der Dussen and Olivier were named the best batsman and bowler of the tournament, for their chart-topping 496 runs and 20 wickets respectively.
