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Top five Mzansi Super League batting moments

Reeza Hendricks of the Jozi Stars during the Mzansi Super League match between Jozi Stars and Durban Heat at Bidvest Wanderers Stadium on November 30, 2018in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Reeza Hendricks of the Jozi Stars during the Mzansi Super League match between Jozi Stars and Durban Heat at Bidvest Wanderers Stadium on November 30, 2018in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Image: Lee Warren/Gallo Images

The top five run-scorers in the Mzansi Super League were all South Africans and they provided the batting highlights in the tournament.

However, there were other batting moments that livened up the tournament in more ways than one.

After all, it was a T20 tournament where bat was always going to dominate against the ball.

1) Reeza Hendricks – 101* (49) for Jozi Stars v Durban Heat - Johannesburg

It was the tournament's first ton at the home of limited overs runs that's the Wanderers.

It was a well-paced ton from Hendricks that set his team on course for one of their three 200-plus totals in the tournament.

The platform Hendricks laid was the base from where Rassie van der Dussen and Dan Christian wasted the Heat's bowling attack.

There also was Van Der Dussen's unbridled assault on Tladi Bokako were 30 runs were taken from one hapless over.

We didn't know then but the Stars' march to the title was sparked by this game where their batting came off.

2) Reeza Hendricks – 108* (62) for Jozi Stars v Nelson Mandela Bay Giants – Port Elizabeth

Two days later and there were three tons in the MSL and the third one was Hendricks's second.

This was a well-measured one on a two-paced surface against better bowling.

A total of 173 proved to be out of the Giants' reach but Hendricks ton showcased the value of summing up conditions and batting accordingly.

The Stars recorded a second consecutive bonus point win and really started to look the part of a team that could actually challenge the Cape Town Blitz and indeed they did.

Hendricks and van der Dussen teamed up to beat them in the second round league game to set a marker for a final they'd go on to win with ease.

3) Quinton de Kock – 108 (55) for Cape Town Blitz v Tshwane Spartans - Centurion

In this game, the Cape Town Blitz were 101/8 after a terminal collapse but Quinton de Kock was about to start his last stand at the Alamo that was SuperSport Park's crazy paving of a two-paced pitch.

Only two other batsmen made 30 but a free spirit like De Kock has the ability of putting the pitch out of the equation.

That's what flashing blades do and De Kock's one pretty much put the game out of reach for the Spartans.

It was paced well and the fact he scored 10 fours and five sixes was testament to how well the innings was managed.

The Spartans could only manage 112 in reply to the Blitz's 172/9.

When De Kock failed, so did the Blitz, which was the case in the final but he did the most from a batting perspective to get them there.

4) Asif Ali – 80 (33) for Cape Town Blitz v Durban Heat – Durban

On another day and era, Ali's remarkable 33-ball effort could and would have been rewarded with a hundred.

Against the Heat on a tricky surface and Durban's notoriously capricious weather closing in, he catalysed the Blitz's tournament.

They'd beaten the Spartans in the opening game but at 83/5, Keshav Maharaj had brought the Heat back into the game in defence of 157.

Anrich Nortje knocked the stuffing out of the Heat's batting but the game needed the batsmen to deliver.

Where the other batsmen failed (there was only one other score of 30 in the innings) Ali brightened up the Blitz chase to a point where they moved to the summit of the log.

They'd stay there for the rest of the tournament while the Heat never recovered from this hammering. They'd finish bottom.

5) Dan Christian 52* (38) for Jozi Stars v Tshwane Spartans – Johannesburg

If batsmen could be charged for grievous bowling harm, Dan Christian would have been charged, convicted, sentenced, locked up and have the keys thrown away.

While the stats say Ali's 33-ball knock had a bigger impact, this innings served notice as to why batsmen like Christian need a platform.

It was provided by Rassie van der Dussen's unbeaten 44-ball 96 but six of the 38 balls Christian faced disappeared into the vast expanses of the Wanderers.

To put the visceral nature of this assault into perspective, Christian arrived at the wicket with the Stars at 121/3 after 12.5 overs.

When he and Van Der Dussen marched off to the pavilion some seven overs and a ball later, the score was 239/3 (the highest in the tournament). You do the maths. 

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