AB de Villiers struck 51 in 37 balls, but was trumped by Henry Davids' 77* off 44 as Paarl Rocks beat Tshwane Spartans in the final of the Mzansi Super League 2019.
Davids' fifty, coming off 22 balls, was the quickest of the season, helping his side chase down the opposition's 147/6 with eight wickets in hand and in just 14.2 overs at Boland Park on Monday, 16 December.
The opener dominated the bowling, leading the chase with two brisk top-order partnerships. He added 80 in 7.3 overs for the first wicket with Cameron Delport (18) and 52 with Dwaine Pretorius, who slammed 43 in 21 balls.
Davids' knock included eight fours and four sixes, but it was left to captain Faf du Plessis, who had led the team to the top of the table in the league stage, to hit the winning runs.
They came, they bowled & batted, and they marched away with a convincing victory! 👏👏👏
— Mzansi Super League 🔥 🇿🇦 🏏 (@MSL_T20) December 16, 2019
Here's to the 2019 #MSLT20 champions @Paarl_Rocks pic.twitter.com/lzD3o2I4f3
"Henry is like a good bottle of red wine; he just gets better the later the tournament goes and with age," du Plessis said of the 39-year-old. "I was very proud of his performance tonight."
Earlier, the Spartans batsmen couldn't build on their starts. On a slow surface, Isuru Udana and Tabraiz Shamsi picked up two wickets each, as only de Villiers held together the innings.
De Villiers thus finished as the third-highest run-getter in the second edition of the T20 tournament, behind Ben Dunk and Janneman Malan. Imran Tahir (17 wickets) led the bowlers' charts, ahead of Shamsi (16) and Dale Steyn (15) – numbers that will give South Africa confidence ahead of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2020.
Trending News
-
1
1 All the squads for ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023
The squads are starting to roll in for this year's ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in India.
-
2 Match schedule announced for ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023
-
3 Race for top ODI team ranking hots up ahead of World Cup
-
4 USA to stage T20 World Cup: 2024-2031 ICC Men's tournament hosts confirmed
-
5 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup: All the kits revealed so far