CSA Provincial T20 | Rilee Rossouw century, Wayne Parnell fifty highlight first set of quarterfinals

The first two quarter-finals of the Cricket South Africa Provincial T20 tournament saw some amazing hitting by the veterans of South African cricket in Rilee Rossouw, Wayne Parnell and Farhaan Behardien. The match between Knights and Westerns Province even went down to the wire while Titans earned an easy win in the first quarterfinal against South Western Districts. 

With Wayne Parnell hitting 80 off just 29 balls, with his fifty coming off a record 18 balls, the Western province team almost reached the target of 224 set up by the Knights, falling short by just four runs even as Parnell hit 24 in the last over. 

The top-order batters didn’t really give much to the Parnell led side apart from Jonathan Bird who made 32 off 22. Parnell partnered first with Aviwe Mgijima for a 60 runs stand and then added unbeaten 43 with number 10 Tshepo Moreki. But all that wasn’t enough for the Province to make it to the semi-finals. 

Earlier in the evening courtesy of a Rilee Rossouw century in which he hit 112 of just 55 balls and Behardien’s 57 off 29 balls, Knights made 223-2 in their 20 overs. 

In the first quarter-final, Titans, courtesy of Donavon Ferreira’s 55 and Theunis de Bruyn’s 48 made 192-5 in their 20 overs. And then with the help of Aaron Phangiso’s 2-18 and other bowlers chipping around cancelled out Leus du Plooy’s 55 to roll over South Western Districts on 138 and win the game by 54 runs. 

In the next set of quarterfinals i.e. 3 and four Paarl Rocks would take on North West Dragons while Dolphins would be up against familiar foes in Warriors respectively. While Rocks skipper Pieter Malan would be the key for them, North-West Dragons would bank on the all-around abilities of Senuran Muthusamy. 

In the other quarter-final, while Khaya Zondo with his batting abilities will be key for Dolphins, JJ Smuts will hold importance for the Warriors. Both the matches will be played at Diamond Oval in Kimberly.