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SACA Celebrates Tony Irish on Receiving the Prestigious Tim May Medal of Honour

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JOZI STARS BLAST CT BLITZ TO CLAIM FIRST MSL TROPHY

The Jozi Stars have claimed the inaugural Mzansi Super League, with the Gauteng based franchise easily taking the title with an 8 wicket win over the Cape Town Blitz at Newlands.

After winning the toss and opting to bat, the Blitz were in early trouble with Quinton de Kock back in the hut with the score on 6 in the second over.

Dawid Malan and Kyle Verreynne went about repairing the early damage with some cautious batting.

Malan then opened up against Duanne Olivier, striking him for a number of boundaries before the big paceman had his revenge, removing the Englishman for 17 to leave the Blitz at 28 for 2 after the powerplay overs.

Mohammad Nawaz (3) and Asif Ali (4) didn’t last long, falling to Dan Christian and Olivier respectively to leave the Blitz reeling at 48 for 4 in the 10th over.

They never recovered, regularly losing wickets to end on 113/7 after 20 overs with captain Farhaan Behardien top scoring with 23.

The pick of the Jozi Stars bowlers were Beuran Hendricks (2/11), Olivier (2/32) and Kagiso Rabada (1/16).

Although spinner Simon Harmer never picked up a wicket, his four overs only conceded 14 runs.

Dale Steyn struck early in the Jozi Stars innings, cleaning up Ryan Rickleton for 6 to leave the visitors on 13/1 in the third over.

That brought Rassie van der Dussen to join Reeza Hendricks and the Jozi Stars batting kingpins, after starting slowly in seeing off Dale Steyn, went about their business with great ease, guiding their side towards victory.

Hendricks (33) fell to Malusi Siboto with just 14 needed for victory but van der Dussen (59*) saw the Stars over the line for an emphatic victory.

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RECORD-BREAKING STARS SEAL PLAY-OFF PLACE

A sensational 118-run partnership between Rassie van der Dussen and Dan Christian booked the Jozi Stars a ticket to the Mzansi Super League play-offs with a comfortable 101-run bonus-point victory over the Tshwane Spartans at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium on Tuesday.

Both hit half-centuries – the Australian recording the fastest one of the competition from only 18 balls – as the hosts piled on a record score of 239 for three.

Nono Pongolo then produced the best bowling figures of the MSL T20 when he bagged six for 20, also his best career figures, as the Spartans were flattened for 138 in 17.2 overs.

The result means the Stars will now host the Qualifier in Johannesburg on Friday against one of the Paarl Rocks, Nelson Mandela Bay Giants or the Spartans who could all finish on 21 points. The former two meet at Eurolux Boland Park on Wednesday with the Spartans taking on the Durban Heat in the late match on the same day.

In the event of the three all finishing on 21 points, then Spartans will qualify as they won both their matches against the Rocks and both these sides have a greater number of wins than the Giants. The latter can qualify with a straight victory over the Rocks while the Rocks will get through if they win with a bonus point or score a straight win provided the Spartans lose. The Spartans will need to win with a bonus point to reach 21 log points.

League-phase champions Cape Town Blitz await the victors of the play-off for the final at PPC Newlands on Sunday.

On current form, Jozi look like they will take some stopping after they bulldozed their way past the meek Spartans at the Bullring.

Ryan Rickelton (45), Reeza Hendricks (20) and Kagiso Rabada (21), used as a pinch-hitter, laid the platform for their side by getting them to 121 for three in the 13th over.

It was then the Van der Dussen and Christian show, with the pair launching into the Tshwane bowlers.

The former fell four shy of a century after blazing 96 off 44 balls (6 fours, 6 sixes), with the latter dealing only in sixes as he massacred six on his way to 52 off 19 balls.

It allowed Jozi to post the highest total of the competition to date and left their cross-Jukskei rivals needing something special to secure the improbable.

And unlikely it was as Pongolo produced the figures of his life to knock the stuffing out of the Spartans.

Only Gihahn Cloete managed to cross 50 – he hit exactly that number off 40 balls (7 fours) – while there was little else in terms of support.

Captain AB de Villiers fell to Kagiso Rabada via a superb catch by Simon Harmer, deflating any hope his side may have had.

Pongolo kept chipping away at the other end to secure the Stars the biggest win of the competition.

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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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