After two days at the top of the Mzansi Super League (MSL) log, Heinrich Klaasen and his men from the Tshwane Spartans dropped back to third place when they lost with 15 runs in a thrilling and exciting game against the Cape Town Blitz at Newlands on Sunday.

On Friday night in Centurion, a superb bowling display followed by an AB de Villiers gem in front of their home crowd sent the Tshwane Spartans to the top of the MSL table after they crushed the Paarl Rocks by eight wickets for a bonus-point win.

De Villiers crunched 69 off 37 balls, which included three sixes and six fours, to help the hosts chase down a below par 127-run target with a full five overs to spare.

On a night when MSL 2.0 finally arrived in Tshwane, the home team won the toss and fielded, with their bowlers delivering a clinical display.

Man-of-the-match Roelof van der Merwe led the way with a stellar 3/15 in four overs, while there were also doubles from Morné Morkel (2/22) and Lungi Ngidi (2/25).

That set the stage for Mr. 360 and he entertained the capacity crowd with a typical De Villiers spectacle that not only gave them the win, but also a crucial bonus point.

Unfortunately, the Spartans stumbled into the legendary Dale Steyn at his devastating best on Sunday in Cape Town.

A phenomenal return of 3/10 by Steyn in front of the biggest MSL crowd of the season helped the Cape Town Blitz keep alive their play-off hopes with a 15-run win over the in-form Tshwane Spartans.

In what was a compelling bowling display all-round by the hosts, the veteran speedster dismissed Wiaan Mulder (2), Dean Elgar (5) and the biggest prize of them all, AB de Villiers (31) – the dismissal of his star former Proteas team-mate turning the game.

The men from Centurion nonetheless still came close on their chase of 158, reaching 142 for seven thanks mainly to Pite van Biljon’s 62 off 42 balls, but he was bowled by the another of the stand-out bowlers, Wahab Riaz (2/18) with time running out.

That ensured that the Blitz saw out the victory and they also had batsman David Bedingham (53 off 40 balls) to thank for getting them up to a competitive total on a wicket that started out well, but became slower and lower as the match progressed.

However, the Cape side held out in front of a near 7 000 fans that had turned up and moved up to fourth on the table with 17 points, two points adrift of the Spartans (19), who suffered their first loss of the season.

Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:

Rekord East
Rekord North
Rekord Centurion
Rekord Moot

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram