A packed house in pink, and a convincing all-round performance by both bat and ball especially by the spinner duo of Bjorn Fortuin and Tabraiz Shamsi, The Paarl Royals well and truly bought the Gees at the Boland Park, as the Royals who are in ominous form in this season notched up their 4th win from 5 matches with a bonus point to acquire pole position in this year of the league making them one of the strongest contenders to seal an early spot in the Playoffs as they beat MI Capetown in their reverse fixture by 59 runs.
Pitch Condition and Teams
The slowish pitch on the Boland surface meant that the score around 155-160 would be enough for the team batting first to restrict the opposition and the Royals exactly did that taking full advantage of the slowish and sluggish nature of the pitch. Considering the wicket Royals had the likes of Bjorn Fortuin and Tabraiz Shamsi to their squad in addition to West Indian allrounder Fabien Allen who could role his arm over if required.
On the other hand MI Cape Town fresh from the victory from previous game on Sunday versus the Royals made only one change bringing in fast bowler Nuwan Thusara for Olly Stone. MI Cape Town won the toss and put Royals onto bat first.
Steady opening partnership of 116 runs between Jason Roy and Jos Buttler sets the tone for Paarl Royal’s victory
Putting into bat first England openers Jason Roy and Jos Buttler smashing 60 in the Powerplay, the Paarl Royals had eyes set on the huge total with Jason Roy being the aggressor and Buttler playing the perfect foil in the partnership. Once again, MI Cape Town tried to tie down Royals with their two left-arm spinners George Linde and Thomas Kaber in the middle overs. They conceded 28 in five overs after the PowerPlay but crucially, Royals didn’t lose a wicket. The moment Pollard took them off the attack, Roy and Buttler pounced.
They took 15 off the 12th over from Pollard and 13 off Sam Curran in the 13th. Pollard immediately brought back Kaber to earn a breakthrough with the wicket of Roy, who departed for a 46-ball 69 inclusive of 8 fours and 1 six . Kaber finished a fantastic spell of 1 for 24 in 4 overs.
Nuwan Thushara’s brilliant death bowling restricts Paarl to 162 for 3 after 20 overs.
Known for his wayward action and bowling yorkers at will under the guidance of Sri Lankan now MI Cape town bowling coach Lasith Malinga , Nuwan Thusara proved to be a vital change for the MI team as the pacer who after being tonked in the initial overs came back to restrict the rampaging Paarl Royals side. The express fast bowler first took a neat clean catch to dismiss dangerous looking Jason Roy only to return and uproot Jos Buttler’s stump with a perfect yorker. Buttler got out after scoring hard fought 54 with 5 fours and 1 six.
Post Buttler’s return Paarl royals hopes to score in excess of 175 hit a huge jolt as Nuwan Thusara immediately got better of Fabien Allen the first ball he face LBW and Captain David Miller got injured attempting a second run in scorching heat at Paarl forcing him to retire on 24 of 20 balls restricted Paarl to 162 for 3 after 20 overs. Nuwan Thusara had a brilliant field day with a catch and impressive figures of 2 for 27 in 4 overs.
With the red hot opening pair in form of Ryan Rickelton who had 4 consecutive fifties to his name and Rassie Van der Dussen in ominous touch the target looked below par for MI team having chased down 172 with ease on Friday against the same opponents but stand in experienced captain Jos Buttler and Bjorn Fortuin had other plans for the MI team.
Bjorn Fortuin’s match changing opening over sets the tone of huge Paarl Royals win
Knowing that the pitch will turn a significant way and assist the spinners in the second half of the match, stand in skipper Jos Buttler played a gamble in front of inform opener Ryan Rickleton and Rassie Van der Dussen bringing in left arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin in the first over itself and the plot worked successfully for the Royals as Fortuin first got rid of dangerous Rassie Van der Dussen for zero on the third ball of the opening over and then sending in out of form Dewald Brevis the next ball for o again making MI score look 2 for 2 after the 1st over.
Obed McCoy then dented the chasing side further with the wicket of Ryan Rickelton in the fourth over which was a wicket maiden over . MI Capetown were seriously held at 38 for 3 at the End of powerplay.
Liam Livingstone’s brief heroics but brilliant bowling sets Paarl’s thumping 59 runs victory over MI Cape Town.
MI Cape Town attempted recovery through their middle-order batters Connor Esterhuizen, Curran and Liam Livingstone with the later being harsh on Andile Phehlukwayo smashing 18 runs of his over courtesy the longest six of the match (96 mts) but that didn’t last the distance. Tabraiz Shamsi and Lungi Ngidi put the breaks on that endeavour before Fortuin returned to dismiss Linde in the 15th over, leaving MI CT on 79 for 7. Kaber’s 12-ball 14 helped drag the side past the three-figure mark before being bundled out for 103 in the 19th over.
Paarl Royals had a perfect revenge in the reverse fixture beating the MI Capetown by bowling them out on 103 to gather a bonus point and the top spot in the leagues table after 5 matches. The heroes of the match were the bowlers led by the spin duo Bjorn Fortuin (3 for 15) and Tabraiz Shamsi(2 for 11 ) who broke the back of the chase with 5 wickets for 26 runs during their combined spells.
Captains views and Road Ahead.
Losing captain of MICT Kieron Pollard said :
“Restricting them to 160-odd on that pitch was a good total, we will take that any day. I thought the guys bowled decently, a couple of overs in the middle had we limited them, we can look back in hindsight now but I thought the bowlers bowled well,”
You look at the stats and the data, your strengths and the opposition’s strengths and make a call. You get a lot of questions when it doesn’t go your way. In life you stand by your decisions and if I had to make a call like that again I will. We have a game in 48 hours, these things happen. The collapses happen and hopefully this is just one of them. You can’t dwell too much or over analyze stuff, that’s not the way to go,”
Winning captain of Royals David Miller said
“Just got a little sock on it, we will have to see how it goes tomorrow. It’s the calf. Very happy, great performance all around. We got off to a flier and it was great to see J Roy scoring some runs, back to his best, and then the bowlers finished it off. Being a day game we wanted to bat first and squeeze in a total on the board. T20 is difficult to be consistent all the way through, you get one or two losses,”
“Today two guys contributed and in previous games we all contributed, the bowlers have done well throughout. Emphasizing things that we are doing well and we have got a few plans that we have worked on and keep ironing out the strengths we have got,
Player of the Match for his brilliant spell 3 for 15 Bjorn Fortuin said :
“It’s good to get back on track, especially after the last defeat, quite a big defeat at the hands of these guys. I’m not too happy actually, would have liked a few more sticks individually but happy for the team. We were surprised that they bowled first, in the past it aids slow bowlers and today was no exception,”
“There have been a few opinions floating on social media, I’m not the one to confront but it’s a way of letting them know. [on if he checks reactions on social media] We would like to say no, but we do. It’s nice to play in front of the home crowd and get the win,”
The Paarl Royals well and truly bought the Gees at the Boland Park, as the Royals who are in ominous form in this season notched up their 4th win from 5 matches with a bonus point to acquire pole position in this year of the league having 18 points making them one of the strongest contenders to seal an early spot in the Playoffs will now play with Johannesburg Super Kings on Wednesday while MI Cape town with a hope to bounce back locks horns with Durban Super Giants in the reverse fixture at Newlands Capetown on Tuesday.