The Mzansi Super League (MSL) enters the home stretch of the first phase of the regular season with five of the six teams vying for the top three positions that are set to be decided in the next seven days.

Two of those, the Nelson Mandela Bay Giants and Tshwane Spartans, clash in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday, with one of the two guaranteed to at least go joint top – weather permitting at St George’s Park.

The pair have 19 points apiece, which is four behind the Paarl Rocks, who have played a game more, and a win will put them in prime position for an automatic berth in the December 16 final, the reward for the top team after the 10 league-phase games.

Giants captain Jon-Jon Smuts, whose side have lost back-to-back games for their first defeats of MSL 2.0, admits the stakes will be high in the Eastern Cape.

“I’ve said it before the last five games that every game is a big game in this competition and the one against the Spartans will be no different. I think there are five teams still in the running and that all five can still come first, so that shows how close the competition is this year. We treat every game as a must-win game. Just to keep trying and playing our best cricket and trying to get into that top three,” said Smuts.

The teams that end second and third will contest a Qualifier, with the winner progressing to the decisive game.

The Spartans, meanwhile, have been on a role of late, although they were cut down to size for their first loss of the campaign when they went down to the Blitz in front of the biggest crowd of the 2019 MSL season in Cape Town on Sunday.

Star batsman AB de Villiers conceded that they were under par in that defeat but feels that they still have every chance of reaching the business end of the competition.

“We were a little bit off the money in that last game. But that happens sometimes. We would like to win every game we play from here. I think we’re maybe two wins away from going through to the knockouts. We would obviously like to win all three that are left to finish top of the log. I think we have a very good chance should we win the rest to do that, but I think even with one win we could still go through,” said De Villiers.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Giants squad: Imran Tahir, Jason Roy, Chris Morris, Jon-Jon Smuts (capt), Junior Dala, Matthew Breetzke, Onke Nyaku, Ben Dunk, Heino Kuhn, Marco Marais, Beuran Hendricks, Grant Thomson, Akhona Mnyaka, Ryan ten Doeschate, Nandre Burger, Dylan Matthews.

 The Tshwane Spartans squad: AB de Villiers, Tom Curran, Morné Morkel, Lungi Ngidi, Heinrich Klaasen (capt), Theunis de Bruyn, Roelof van der Merwe, Lutho Sipamla, Pite van Biljon, Tony de Zorzi, Waqar Salamkheil, Dean Elgar, Wiaan Mulder, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Corbin Bosch, Donovan Ferreira.

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