2173dThe Report by Liam Brickhill

Dala, Smuts lift Bay Giants to second

In a festive atmosphere, Bay Giants cantered home, with Smuts steering a modest chase after Junior Dala led a collective bowling effort

Match Centre

Commentator: Akshay Gopalakrishnan

10.01pm Hardly broke a sweat there in the chase. Lost just the one wicket, and even that was down to the batsman's own undoing. 127 was a tad underwhelming, even if the surface played on the slower side. They couldn't produce any magic with the ball either, and that meant Bay Giants canted home by nine wickets with 15 balls remaining. Heat were hit hard by the injury to Albie Morkel, and will hope he can regain fitness soon. Bay Giants rise to second place with eight points, while Heat remain stuck on fourth place with four points.

Junior Dala is Man of the Match. "Wasn't at my best in the last performance, but good to perform and contribute to a win in the first game in front of the home crowd," he says. "We had a gameplan and executed it. Morris' double-strike in the second over made my job easier. A lot of players are getting to play with international stars and even the nets are a great learning experience."

"It was pretty awesome," says winning captain JJ Smuts. "I think in the first two games we played well in patches. The spinners are going to play a big part in the tournament."

"He's gone for scans. Unfortunate to have lost him," says Zondo. "We injured out own player, just one of those freakish things in cricket. We've got a week off, we'll make use of it to cool down and start fresh."

That's it from this game. Thanks for joining us. Goodbye from Liam and myself.

17.3
4
Bokako to Smuts, FOUR, that's it. Gets a full toss, angling into him, whipped away forcefully to deep backward square leg
17.2
0
Bokako to Smuts, no run, clips a fuller one straight to short fine leg
17.1
0
Bokako to Smuts, no run, full toss outside off, pushed to mid-on

Just one to win now. This has been a one-sided demolition.

END OF OVER:
17 | 12 Runs | NMBG: 127/1 | RR: 7.47

  • Ben Duckett21 (16b)
  • JJ Smuts58 (49b)
  • Kyle Abbott4-0-29-0
  • Marchant de Lange4-0-38-0
16.6
4
Abbott to Duckett, FOUR, short of good length, angled across off, muscles a pull to the right of deep midwicket
16.5
1
Abbott to Smuts, 1 run, back of a length slower ball, nudges to midwicket
16.4
4
Abbott to Smuts, FOUR, shortish on off, gets on top of the bounce and pulls past mid-on diving to his right

Mzansi Super League

TeamMWLPTNRR
CTB1063300.941
JS1064291.295
PR105522-0.292
NMBG104421-0.448
TS104616-1.044
DH103614-0.716