A dramatic collapse that in just 70 minutes cost Cape Town their last eight wickets for the addition of just 38 runs, completely transformed a contest that had seemingly been shaping up to be an interesting tussle, into a comprehensive rout instead that had Durbanville romping home to a bonus-point victory with almost 35 overs to spare. The trouncing at least didn’t cost Cape Town their third-place spot on the Premier League points table, but it did see the leading two sides both pull a bit further away into lead, while simultaneously moving Durbanville up behind them in fourth place.
The home side had been asked to bat first at the Boon Wallace Oval, after Cape Town had lost their fourth successive toss, but although they lost an early wicket and had a few other anxious moments along the way, they were nevertheless making decent enough progress in progressing to 72-2 at a rate of four to the over. That was largely due to Tristan Coetzee, who was just beginning to hit a fluent rhythm, driving and pulling the last three of his six fours in quick succession.
However, at this juncture Coetzee then went for the big lofted whip off the pads out to deep mid wicket off the medium-paced Tashwin Lukas, only to pick out a fielder waiting in the deep. It proved to be a massive turning point in the game’s fortunes, as left-arm spinner Bradley Petersen then joined the attack in the very next over and promptly castled two further batters in the space of three balls – before Lukas struck again off another miscued attacking shot to dismiss the home side’s English import Robin Das (who himself had been building the foundation to what was a decent innings up until then). From there, there was no coming back for Cape Town – seamer Jody Lawrence then returned for his second spell and blew away the tail in short order, capturing the last four wickets at a personal cost of just seven runs as wicket-keeper Fritz De Beer enjoyed a field day, bagging three of his four catches in the space of four of those Lawrence overs.
With the home side’s rapid demise, the visitors began their pursuit of their simple target some 45 minutes before the scheduled break between innings. There remained a last bit of defiance to overcome first though, as Cape Town fired off a parting salvo that dismissed both Durbanville openers without scoring inside the first two overs. It was again that man Coetzee who featured prominently here too, holding onto a miraculous catch after running some 30 metres, before diving full-length to one-handedly grab a looping leading edge mere centimetres above the turf.
It was spectacular stuff, but unfortunately that was as good as it would get for the home side. Jean Strydom laid down the marker with a six and two fours from his first seven balls faced, before regular nemesis Rubin Senekal then clinically dismantled Cape Town’s attack with a sustained display of controlled aggression against which Cape Town had no answers. By the time that lunch was taken at the scheduled time, the pair had already added 65 together at better than a-run-a-ball, and just 40 were still wanted for the win. That took less than five overs to knock off upon the resumption, as Senekal cruised to a 46-ball fifty an over before two fours in three balls off Strydom’s bat raised their 100 partnership in less than 15 overs together. It was fitting that Senekal finished matters off with his third six (to go with seven fours in an undefeated 63 from just 53 balls), thereby taking his career record against Cape Town passed 350 runs in six innings at an average of 70. With Strydom finishing with 41 from 42 balls at the other end, Durbanville thus completed a crushing win with an abundance of time, overs and wickets to spare.
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