Pretoria Capitals 220 for 5 (Lubbe 60, Rutherford 47*, Rabada 2-48) beat MI Cape Town 135 (Rickelton 33, Rutherford 4-24, Maharaj 3-28) by 85 runs
As they did in the tournament opener, when they were chasing 233, MICT made a fist of it but only for the first half. They were ahead of the asking rate on 100 for 2 in the ninth over but lost 7 for 35 to deny their home crowd early celebrations on the last day of 2025. They didn’t even have the joy of avoiding conceding a bonus point, with Capitals scooping all five points on offer. Rutherford followed his death-hitting with 4 for 24.
Rabada roars back but then gets taken apart
He was brought back in the 16th over, once the Hope-Lubbe stand was broken and with Lubbe keen to up the ante. He top-edged Rabada over slip but then tried to swipe across the line and top-edged over mid-on. Rabada charged back to try and take the catch but stood down when seeing Reeza Hendricks, who charged in from long-on, was in better position. He could have a had a fourth and a fifth but Corbin Bosch put Brevis down – a difficult, swirling chance – and Nicholas Pooran dropped Rutherford in the final over. Rabada finished with figures of 2 for 48,
Brevis and Rutherford unload six-shooters
After returns of 6 and 12 in his first two matches, Brevis had done very little to justify the R16.5 million (approx US$980,000) Pretoria Capitals paid for him but he started to earn some of his money here. His first boundary was the signature no-look six, this time off a Trent Boult slower ball, and his next two were also sixes. He sent a Bosch full toss over long-off and then sliced a short ball over third to rack up 24 runs off the first nine balls he faced.
But it was not all Brevis. At the start of the next over, the penultimate one, Sherfane Rutherford made sure his power-hitting stole the spotlight. He sent a wide Dwaine Pretorius offcutter over long-off, a slower-ball bouncer over square leg, a full toss over deep cover and then got inside the line of a length ball to hit it over long-off. Pretorius pulled out of his run-up for the fifth ball and broke Rutherford’s momentum with a yorker but the damage had been done.
Rickelton rides his luck until he doesn’t
After being dropped twice on his way to 113 in the opening game, Ryan Rickelton was put down twice more as the rub of the green continued for him at Newlands. He was on 13 when he skied Lizaad Williams toward mid-on. Rurtherford had an age to get under it and did but the ball slipped out of his hands to give Rickelton a life. In the next over, he was on 23 when he miscued a Lungi Ngidi slower ball to third. Williams was running in and seemed to have it covered only for Brevis to come into view, charging towards the ball from deep backward point. In the end, the ball fell between them as they tumbled to the ground, almost colliding.
Rickelton kept hitting but his fortune ran out when he pulled Williams to deep backward square where Parsons took the catch, diving forward. The opening stand was broken on 60, and Brevis redeemed himself when he took the catch that removed Rassie van der Dussen, two overs later.
Maharaj makes NYE his own
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s correspondent for South Africa and women’s cricket
