Our two-match slump in the SA20 2024 came to a resounding end on Tuesday with a 36-run victory over MI Cape Town in Newlands.
This was our fourth victory in six matches this season. The result also helps us keep our perfect record against MICT intact with four wins in four.
Put in to bat first, Matthew Breetzke’s sensible innings and Wiaan Mulder’s late surge helped us put up 157/6 on the board in our 20 overs. Relying on Noor Ahmad and Marcus Stoinis’ magical spells with the ball, we managed to restrict MICT to 121/9.
Breetzke rescue act and late Mulder onslaught take us past 150
Tony de Zorzi, making his SA20 debut, got us off to a flier with a quickfire 20 but back-to-back wickets by George Linde in the third over pushed us on the backfoot early.
A 46-run partnership between Matthew Breetzke and JJ Smuts steadied our ship but Thomas Kaber sending Smuts back in the 10th over put us on a spot of bother yet again.
As wickets tumbled at the other end, Breetzke held up the other end like a rock and took us past 100. Our star opener finally yielded in the 18th over with our innings standing at 133/6 - a far more comfortable position than the 77/4 we were at after losing Heinrich Klaasen.
A late surge by Wiaan Mulder, who hit six fours in his quickfire 38 off just 20, took us to 157/6 after our 20 overs.
Noor and Stoinis weave their magic with the ball
Chasing a modest 158 on a surface that has traditionally favoured teams batting second in the past, MICT looked to be rolling along but Naveen Ul-Haq gave us our first breakthrough, forcing the in-form Ryan Rickelton to nick one to Klaasen at first slip.
Our captain Keshav Maharaj and Noor Ahmad then struck in back-to-back overs to dismiss Rassie van der Dussen and Connor Esterhuizen, respectively and reduced MICT to 39/3.
Sam Curran, with 38 off 27, threatened to take the game away from us for a while but Marcus Stoinis had him caught in the 14th over to bring us right back into the contest.
Noor Ahmad, who thought he had castled Curran in the previous over only to be denied by a DRS review, then spun his magic. The 19-year-old picked up the dangerous Liam Livingstone and MICT skipper Kieron Pollard in consecutive balls and swung the needle firmly in our favour.
Stoinis got rid of Dewald Brevis and George Linde next to put the result beyond any doubt.
While Noor ended with figures of 3/22 in his four overs, Stoinis scalped his three victims for just 18 runs.
With the win, we also picked up a bonus point and went level on points with table toppers Paarl Royals.
What next for the Super Giants?
In fact, we will be on the road to face Paarl Royals in a top-of-the-table clash at Boland Park on Friday.
Brief Scores: Durban’s Super Giants 157/6 in 20 overs (Matthew Breetzke 48; George Linde 2/15) beat MI Cape Town 121/9 in 20 overs (Sam Curran 38; Marcus Stoinis 3/18) by 36 runs.
