JOHANNESBURG – It would seem the Gods - with some help from the Tshwane Metro - aren’t too keen on MSL 2.0
The Mzansi Super League badly needs a good game or a star player - in this case AB de Villiers - to get people talking about it and to distract, even a little bit, from the mess that is Cricket South Africa. Just shy of a week into the competition, there’s been rain, one-sided matches and with the exception of Paarl, drab atmospheres at grounds.
A decent crowd came through the gates here on Wednesday, but they only got 7.1 overs of action, in which the home team was dominated.
The Giants had won the toss and Jon-Jon Smuts opted to chase, as every captain does on the Highveld. What Smuts and his team would not have anticipated was the generosity of the Spartans batsmen.
Theunis de Bruyn hit a ball from Chris Morris straight up in the air, his opening partner Vaughn van Jaarsveld, was lazy in backing up at the non-striker’s end and was run out and the home team’s captain, Heinrich Klaasen, chipped a ball from Junior Dala straight to square leg.
That’s another match lost to rain ☔️
Only 7.1 overs were possible today against the @nmbgiants.
Spartans take two points. #SpartansVGiants #MSLT20 #ThisIsTshwane pic.twitter.com/8pffju8j41
— Tshwane Spartans (@SpartansMSLT20) November 13, 2019
It was a horror show. By the time the Power Play ended, the Spartans were 28/4 - Dean Elgar was Morris’ second victim, trapped lbw first ball, with a full and very fast delivery. He was the only batsmen who could claim to have been beaten by the bowler.
And then the lights went out….well, some of them anyway. It was enough for the umpires to take the players off the field after one ball in the eighth over. It was later explained that the local municipality lost power after a lightning strike, at a nearby substation - although why it only affected one pylon, is a bit of a mystery. Then the wind got up, lightning flashed around, the thunder rolled in and eventually the rain fell.
The Spartans will be grateful given the precarious position in which they found themselves. De Villiers was 10 not out when the match was stopped. He hit one boundary - a spanking pull off Nandre Burger.
But Cricket SA and the MSL, need so much more from him and this tournament. It hasn’t caught alight yet.
Result:
Tshwane Spartans 33/4
NMB Giants
Match Abandoned