Rickelton steals Van der Dussen's luck

A bird pooped on Rassie van der Dussen as he stood under the trees at Newlands earlier in the week. "That's good luck, isn't it?" he joked while cleaning up.

That luck did not last until Friday, when his Mumbai Indians Cape Town began their SA20 title defence against Durban's Super Giants.

First, Kagiso Rabada was not named in Cape Town's XI. He missed South Africa's last 15 matches with a rib problem. With the T20 World Cup squads to be named in eight days, Rashid Khan said Rabada would also miss Cape Town's next game, leaving him only one match—on Wednesday—to prove his fitness before selection.

Then, Durban's Devon Conway and Kane Williamson shared an opening stand of 96 off 51 balls. Rashid Khan took a spectacular catch to dismiss Williamson for 40, but later dropped two catches and conceded 44 runs in his four overs.

Aiden Markram added quick runs with Heinrich Klaasen and Evan Jones before being stumped for 35 off 17. Durban finished on 232/5—the highest total at Newlands in SA20 history—setting Cape Town a record chase.

Van der Dussen walked out with Ryan Rickelton to begin the reply. After two singles, he spliced a pull shot to deep mid-wicket and was gone. So much for bird poop luck.

Instead, the spotlight fell on Rickelton. He had faced only five balls for zero runs in his previous two innings and had gone nine innings without a fifty.

This time was different.

He slog-swept Simon Harmer for consecutive sixes and launched Bosch over midwicket and fine leg. In all, he hit 11 sixes and five fours.

He was on 85 when Kwena Maphaka had him caught, but the delivery was called a no-ball. Rickelton muscled Noor Ahmed over long-off to reach 98, then launched David Wiese over long-on to bring up his hundred off 57 balls.

Wiese's next ball skewed off Rickelton's top edge; Bosch charged in from midwicket but dropped the chance.

Cape Town needed 22 off the final over. Bosch's first ball was wide; Rickelton hoisted it high towards long-off, but it found more edge than middle. Evan Jones took the catch. This time, there was no reprieve.

With Rickelton's dismissal for 98, the tension left the match. Durban won by 15 runs.

The sell-out crowd saw 449 runs, with nearly 70% of them in boundaries, and a dozen wickets. They went home happy with the spectacle, if not the result.