Bonus-point win lifts Pretoria Capitals to the top

Pretoria Capitals ascended to the top of the points table following their 53-run bonus-point victory over MI Cape Town, their third win on the bounce. The loss, meanwhile, anchored MICT to the bottom of the points table and extinguished all realistic hopes of reaching the Playoffs.

Asked to bat first, Capitals only managed 41 runs off the PowerPlay despite a promising start. Connor Esterhuizen began by stroking three fours off the second over bowled by Trent Boult while Shai Hope began the third by striking a six off Linde. The left-arm spinner struck back immediately though by removing Hope off the very next ball.

Esterhuizen failed to capitalize on his start and was bowled by Kagiso Rabada in the fifth over. The three overs following the PowerPlay slipped by quietly with no boundaries being struck. Wihan Lubbe's six off Rashid Khan in the 10th over signalled a change in gears but he fell two balls later attempting another big hit.

Jordan Cox, who struggled for momentum throughout his innings, managed to hit a six and a four before he was bowled by a Rabada yorker in the 13th over. The union of Dewald Brevis and Sherfane Rutherford at the crease, however, changed the complexion of the innings.

After taking a couple of overs to settle in while also using DRS to overturn an LBW decision, Rutherford began his assault by carting Boult for 20 runs in the 16th over. Brevis then followed his partner's cue and smacked two sixes off Rabada to begin the 17th.

The 18th over saw Rutherford being dropped twice and he made MICT pay by striking his way to a 24-ball fifty in the following over. Despite losing Brevis in the 19th over and Rutherford off the very last delivery, the Capitals finished strong having scored 64 runs off the last five overs.

MICT's response began with Rassie van der Dussen dominating the strike, hitting a six and two boundaries before holing out to long-on in the third over. While Reeza Hendricks started fluently by driving Lizaad Williams for two fours, Ryan Rickelton, fresh off a century, failed to get going and fell in the sixth over.

Nicholas Pooran began his innings with a six and a four, taking MICT's PowerPlay score to a near identical 40/2, but his stay at the crease remained brief too as he was dismissed in the following over just after hitting another six.

Pooran's wicket triggered a catastrophic middle-order collapse as MICT slipped from 46/2 to 55/6 by the end of the 10th over. Gideon Peters, who dismissed Rickelton earlier, accounted for both Corbin Bosch and Karim Janat in the same over while Keshav Maharaj dismissed Linde.

Hendricks was left watching the disaster unfold at the other end and his unbeaten 68 off 50 was far from enough to revive MICT's sputtering chase. Hendricks remained largely sedate, only unleashing his shots towards the death. He struck Peters for two sixes in the 18th over and finished the innings by hitting two fours and a six. But his efforts weren't enough to even deny the Capitals a bonus point as MICT fell 53-runs short of the target.

Brief Scores: Pretoria Capitals 185/6 in 20 overs (Sherfane Rutherford 53, Kagiso Rabada 2-33) beat MI Cape Town 132/7 in 20 overs (Reeza Hendricks 68*; Gideon Peters 3-32) by 53 runs