Cape Town's 21-run victory was once again based on a big opening stand, characteristically compiled in rapid fashion by Tom Main and Dominic Telo. Telo was the early aggressor, striking three fours in the third over, but ultimately it was Main who claimed the honours with some awesomely powerful straight drives. Taking full advantage of a smallish field and a strong wind behind him, Main spent a fair proportion of his 50 minutes at the crease dispatching sixes out of the ground in the arc between wide long on and wide long off, in the process blasting his side to 81 without loss from the first seven overs. Thus, by the time that Telo fell soon thereafter for 35 from 28 balls - the first of two wickets in left-arm spinner André Coetzee's second over - Main had already completed his fifty from 27 balls, including no fewer than six sixes and a solitary four.
Main would hit a seventh six as well before holing out on the wide long on boundary, his 32-ball tally of 59 having kept Cape Town's scoring rate at ten to the over through the first twelve. The remaining batting couldn't sustain this momentum though, as a regular stream of wickets helped by three silly run outs meant that only Matthew Olsen thereafter managed anything approaching a meaningful contribution. Aviwe Mgijima recovered from his initial mauling to pick up three for twelve in dominating the last six overs, but a few late scrambled runs and ten sixes in the innings meant that Cape Town still finished with an imposing 167 from their 20 overs.
The Pinelands reply got off to a good start as well, Darren Stevens and Colin Sher cracking 35 together from the first four overs to keep their side in touch. The introduction of Shane Martin's straight and full medium-pacers in tandem with Main's left-arm spin immediately afterwards undid their challenge though, capturing five wickets between them in 40 balls at a cost of just 24 runs.
Needing 98 from the last eight overs with just five wickets in hand, Pinelands's challenge thus seemed spent. However, Sher was still there, and with some assistance from Colin Birch he kept his side there and thereabouts for the next few overs - reaching his fifty in the process from 40 balls with three sixes of his own to go with two fours. Olsen then effectively sealed things for Cape Town with a wicket in each of his last two overs though, toppling Pinelands to 124 for seven with just two overs remaining.
With their cause thus realistically-speaking all but hopeless, Sher cut loose with carefree abandon. Having already taken a liking to Geoff Dods's bowling, his reintroduction into the attack for the penultimate over was unfortunate timing - the seamer was mown down by a withering hail of strokeplay as Sher hit his first, third and fourth deliveries back passed him for six, advancing his personal score from 51 to 71 in the space of four balls. Dods had the final laugh by dismissing him next ball though, finishing with wickets from both of his last two deliveries. Main then wrappped up proceedings by capturing the last wicket three balls later, clinching the win for Cape Town and putting the seal on a most successful personal performance.
Match photo's