Tag: DURBAN HEAT

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Kyle Simmonds Crowned Overall Division 1 SACA MVP

The 2025/26 domestic cricket season concludes with Western Province all-rounder Kyle Simmonds named Division 1 Overall SACA MVP. Simmonds earned…

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Liam Alder Named Overall SACA MVP for Domestic Division 2

Following the completion of all domestic fixtures, Liam Alder of the Garden Route Badgers finished at the top of the…

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TWELVE YEARS OF RESEARCH-BASED PLAYER SERVICE

Over the past 12 years, the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) has cemented its dedication to evidence-based practice through a…

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ZONDO & VAN WYK GUIDE HEAT CHASE

Fifties from Morne van Wyk and Khaya Zondo helped Durban Heat to a consolatory six-wicket win over Cape Town Blitz at a sunny Newlands on Sunday afternoon.

Durban Heat are already out of the running for a playoff position at the business end of the Mzansi Super League, and their opposition today were already assured of an automatic ticket to a home final next Sunday thanks to Jozi Stars’ loss earlier in the day, but a 79-run stand between van Wyk and Zondo allowed Heat to leave Cape Town with a win and their pride intact.

Chasing a challenging 161 for 6, Heat lost opener Sarel Erwee in the first over and an off-colour Hashim Amla just after the Powerplay, but van Wyk and Zondo soon brought their chase back on track. Van Wyk lead the way early on, bringing up a 42-ball fifty in the 14th over, but Zondo was also quickly into his stride.

Zondo whipped Malusi Siboto over cow corner for his first six in the 13th over and then flat-batted a full toss from medium pacer Ferisco Adams over extra cover to take the asking rate under 10. Van Wyk’s dismissal, pulling Dale Steyn into the hands of Sibonelo Makhanya at deep square leg to fall for 56 in the 16th over, tipped the balance once more, but Zondo responded in style.

Adams was dispatched for back-to-back sixes at the start of the 16th over – the first of which brought up Zondo’s 35-ball fifty, and David Miller then biffed Nandre Burger over wide long on to take the equation down to just five from the final over. Zondo top-edged the first ball of that last over, bowled by Siboto, to third man for four to level the scores, and though he fell straight afterwards aiming to end the game with a flourish, Miller tapped the winning single wide of mid-off to guide Heat home.

The total Heat were chasing was largely due to another adventurous innings from Quinton de Kock, who maintained his hot streak with the bat with an unbeaten 86 from 55 deliveries to power the Blitz innings. De Kock was not off to his usual flier – a probing first spell from Rashid Khan inside the Powerplay made sure of that – but he picked up momentum through the innings.

De Kock lost his opening partner Janneman Malan in the first over of the innings, bowled by Khan for his first duck in an otherwise remarkably consistent performance through this tournament, and with Dawid Malan also quickly undone by Kyle Abbott, Blitz ended the Powerplay at a modest 28 for 2.

Halfway through the innings, de Kock’s strike rate was well under a run a ball, but he found his groove against Tladi Bokako, taking 17 off his third over, and a brace of fours off Keshav Maharaj brought up his 34-ball fifty in the 13th over.

From that point onwards, de Kock shifted through the gears despite a committed effort with the ball from Heat, attacking the short boundary against Rashid with some audacious hitting. Reverse sweeps from consecutive deliveries in the 19th over, bowled by Rashid, both brought sixes and alongside Mohammad Nawaz he rattled through a 51-run, fifth-wicket stand from just 25 deliveries. Thanks to van Wyk and Zondo’s contributions, however, Heat did at least leave Cape Town with a win.

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TOP TWO IN MSL GO HEAD TO HEAD

All roads lead to St George’s Park when the Nelson Mandela Giants meet the Cape Town Blitz in the top-of-table Mzansi Super League clash on Tuesday evening.

The two coastal cities have been the trend-setters in this inaugural competition. After racing to four consecutive victories, the Blitz steam train hit a speed bump on Sunday afternoon when Standard Bank Proteas captain Faf du Plessis and his Paarl Rocks team stopped their neighbours in their tracks in the maiden Western Cape derby.

The Giants, meanwhile, enjoyed a successful weekend by completing the double over the Durban Heat on Friday evening before coming out on the right side of a weather-interrupted contest with the Tshwane Spartans on Sunday.

The Blitz currently top the log with 18 points from five matches, while the Giants are just below on 12 – although the Port Elizabeth side have played one game less.

“We never adapted from the Highveld conditions to the slow and low conditions in 12 hours. We never had enough runs on the board. The average score is about 146 and we got 140, so we always thought we were in the game. They had a senior batsman in Faf du Plessis batting through, who kept it all together. We knew they were a batter light when (Michael) Klinger pulled out, but Faf held the innings together nicely,” Blitz captain Farhaan Behardien said before looking at the positives ahead of the Giants clash.

“I reckon its brilliant for the team (the first defeat). It is always nice to taste a little bit of a loss before playoffs and finals. Sometimes when you are winning all the time, you tend to gloss over things. To taste defeat, in my opinion, is a good thing. We will lick our wounds and put it [the result] to bed as quickly as we can. Fortunately, we have won four from five and at the halfway mark, we are happy with our performance thus far,” the Standard Bank Proteas batsman added.

The Giants, meanwhile, are set to test the Blitz batsmen once more with slow and turning conditions at St George’s Park, especially with the two left-arm spinners, Aaron Phangiso and Jon-Jon Smuts, in good form.

“In any competition like this, you need to understand your home ground. You need to understand and you need to play well. I mean we played probably pretty close to the perfect game against the Durban Heat last week so one would want to do that again,” coach Eric Simons said.

“We are up against the Cape Town Blitz who are obviously a very good side. I think we’ve got a good side for any conditions and obviously knowing we were going to play five games in Port Elizabeth we sat with that thought in the draft. If we can set the game up with our bowling. If we can bowl with the same discipline on Tuesday, then obviously we are going to be a tough side to beat.”

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ABBOTT SPEARHEADS THE HEAT TO THEIR FIRST VICTORY

Kyle Abbott bowled the Durban Heat to their opening Mzansi Super League victory after the rain intervened at Kingsmead on Wednesday afternoon.

Abbott claimed 4/27 to restrict the Tshwane Spartans 139/9, with the visitors only batting 19 overs due to weather disruptions. The Heat’s batsmen managed to get up to 129/6 after 16.3 overs before the heavens opened once more, forcing the players off for the final time.

That was enough to take the points with the Heat ahead of the Duckworth Lewis par-score of 120, thereby handing the home team victory by 10 runs.

It certainly was a day for the bowlers with only Tshwane Spartans opening batsman Gihahn Cloete striking the ball with any form of fluency. Cloete soared to the top of the Mzansi Super League run-scoring charts with 55 off 43 balls (7×4).

Unfortunately for the Spartans, Cloete did not have a partner to sustain the momentum. Only Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikander Raza managed 20 off 20 balls before Abbott cleaned up the Tshwane middle-order.

Even AB de Villiers failed for the first time in this tournament with the former Standard Bank Proteas captain being trapped LBW by Keshav Maharaj while attempting a reverse-sweep.

The Heat run-chase never quite raced out of the blocks with solid contributions from Hashim Amla (24), Morne van Wyk (22), Heinrich Klaasen (21) keeping the home team up with the required run-rate before a rapid 50-run partnership between Khaya Zondo (25 off 11 balls) and Albie Morkel (26 off 12 balls) for the fifth-wicket raised the tempo of the innings.

Lutho Sipamla tried valiantly for the Spartans with 3/22, but it was not enough to deny the Heat their first victory of the competition.

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BLITZ MAINTAIN UNBEATEN START TO MSL

The Cape Town Blitz continued to set the pace in the Mzansi Super League after strong performances by Janneman Malan and Dale Steyn helped them make it three wins from three thanks to a 12-run Duckworth/Lewis triumph over the Nelson Mandela Bay Giants in Cape Town on Wednesday.

After winning their first two matches under the leadership of Dawid Malan, Farhaan Behardien replaced the departed Briton but slotted in seamlessly as the hosts held off a strong challenge from the visitors at PPC Newlands.

Janneman Malan top-scored for the Blitz with 57 off 39 balls (10 fours, 1 six), while Steyn was outstanding with the ball on his way to figures of two for 21 in four overs.

In a match affected by a brief floodlight failure, the log leaders won the toss and batted first, amassing 175 for six in their 20 overs. With Dawid Malan missing at the top of the order, returning Standard Bank Proteas star Quinton de Kock – one of five debuting in the new competition – joined Janneman Malan and helped put on 41 for the first wicket, before falling to another new face, Imran Tahir (1/18), for six.

Andile Phehlukwayo (28), promoted up the order, helped Janneman Malan add 49 for the second wicket before he fell to Chris Morris (2/32).

Asif Ali, who destroyed the Durban Heat a few days earlier, then chipped in with 22 off 11 balls, while Behardien contributed 17 as the home side set 176 for victory.

The Giants lost key openers Marco Marais (2) and Jon-Jon Smuts (8) early, both to the pace of Steyn, before Ben Duckett (23) and top-scorer Heino Kuhn (55 off 35 balls, 7 fours, 1 six) began to drag them back into the game.

Their partnership was disrupted by a brief floodlight delay just before their team could cross 50, prompting four overs to be lost and the target revised to 145. Needing to score at around 14 to the over, the pair shift gears, and after Duckett fell, Kuhn looked set to pick up the baton.

But he was unfortunately run out when Malusi Siboto deflected a Christiaan Jonker shot onto the stumps, which seemingly proved critical – prior to his dismissal the equation was reduced to 43 off 20 balls.

And with the pressure of the scoreboard building, the Giants folded to end on 132 for six for a first loss of the campaign.

Hussain Talat was the other double wicket bowler for the Blitz, with the debutant Pakistani claiming two for seven in his solo over.

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MZANSI SUPER LEAGUE ANNOUNCES FINALISED T20 SQUADS

The inaugural Mzansi Super League (MSL) T20 Player Draft was held today at Montecasino in Johannesburg today.

Each team had already been allocated a Marquee Standard Bank Protea player. Today the teams made their picks from the six International Marquee Players and then filled the remaining 14 places in each squad from the foreign and South African players who had applied to enter the draft.

In the mini-round to select the International Marquee Players, the Durban heat had first call and went for Rashid Khan of Afghanistan, the No. 1 ranked bowler in the current ICC T20 rankings. They were followed by the Jozi Stars who went for Chris Gayle of the Windies. Paarl Rocks followed with another Windies player, Dwayne Bravo. Cape Town Blitz then took Dawid Malan of England followed by Tshwane Spartans with England white ball captain Eoin Morgan and Nelson Mandela Bay Giants with England opening batsman Jason Roy.

In round one proper, the Giants led off with Chris Morris, followed by the Spartans with Lungi Ngidi, the Blitz with Andile Phehlukwayo, the Rocks with Tabraiz Shamsi, the Stars with Kolpak star Dane Vilas and the Heat with David Miller.

Lutho Sipamla became the first rookie to be chosen in Round Eight by the Spartans and they followed with another rookie in Tony de Zorzi in Round Nine. Other rookies signed were Sinethemba Qeshile for the Stars, Dyllan Matthews for the Giants, Okuhle Cele for the Heat, Eathan Bosch for the Rocks, and Kyle Verreynne for the Blitz.

The resulting teams are a unique blend of both local youth and international experience which is sure to make for some very exciting cricket.

The Draft order was predetermined by a weighted Player Matrix system. The players who are eligible for the main Draft are those who entered into a binding agreement to enter the Draft.

FINAL SQUADS

(in order of Protea Marquee Player, International Marquee Player, and then the 14 draft rounds, making a total of 16 players per squad)

CAPE TOWN BLITZ: Quinton de Kock, Dawid Malan (England), Andile Phehlukwayo, Dale Steyn, Samuel Badree (Windies), Asif Ali (Pakistan), Farhaan Behardien, Anrich Nortje, Janneman Malan, Malusi Siboto, George Linde, Ferisco Adams, Jason Smith, Sibonelo Makhanya, Kyle Verreynne (rookie), Dane Piedt.

DURBAN HEAT: Hashim Amla, Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Kyle Abbott (kolpak), Keshav Maharaj, Khaya Zondo, Albie Morkel, Marchant de Lange (kolpak), Vernon Philander, Brandon Mavuta (Zimbabwe), Temba Bavuma, Morne van Wyk, Okuhle Cele (rookie), Sarel Erwee, Tladi Bokako.

JOZI STARS: Kagiso Rabada, Chris Gayle (Windies), Dane Vilas, Rassie van der Dussen, Daniel Christian (Australia), Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Dwaine Pretorius, Eddie Leie, Pite van Biljon, Duanne Olivier, Ryan Rickelton, Sinethemba Qeshile (rookie), Simon Harmer, Calvin Savage, Alfred Mothoa.

NELSON MANDELA BAY GIANTS: Imran Tahir, Jason Roy (England), Chris Morris, Jon-Jon Smuts, Junior Dala, Christiaan Jonker, Aaron Phangiso, Ben Duckett (England), Sisanda Magala, Ryan McLaren, Heino Kuhn, Marco Marais, Dyllan Matthews (rookie), Lizaad Williams, Rudi Second, Carmi le Roux.

PAARL ROCKS: Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo (Windies), Tabraiz Shamsi, Dane Paterson, Aiden Markram, Mangaliso Mosehle, Bjorn Fortuin, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Grant Thomson, Paul Stirling (Ireland), Tshepo Moreki, Henry Davids, Cameron Delport , Eathan Bosch (rookie), Patrick Kruger, Kerwin Mungroo.

TSHWANE SPARTANS: AB de Villiers, Eoin Morgan (England), Lungi Ngidi, Robbie Frylinck, Jeewan Mendis (Sri Lanka), Theunis de Bruyn, Rory Kleinveldt, Sean Williams (Zimbabwe), Gihahn Cloete, Lutho Sipamla (rookie), Tony de Zorzi (rookie), Dean Elgar, Andrew Birch, Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe), Shaun von Berg, Eldred Hawken.

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