Aaron Phangiso, a veteran player, shone with both bat and ball, leading Momentum Multiply Titans to their second consecutive victory as they narrowly defeated Gbets Rocks in the latest round of Cricket South Africa (CSA) T20 Challenge games on Sunday.
The defending champions won by four wickets at Boland Park, ensuring that all four teams who won their opening fixtures of the 2023/24 campaign on Friday - the others being World Sports Betting Western Province, DP World Lions and Dafabet Warriors – also emerged victorious in round two.
40-year-old spinner Phangiso made his mark with figures of 1/16 from four overs, playing a key role in restricting the Rocks to 126/9 after winning the toss and electing to bat.
Proteas spinner Tabraiz Shamsi was the standout bowler with figures of 4/23, while Lizaad Williams took 2/30.
Aaron Phangiso, a veteran player, shone with both bat and ball, leading Momentum Multiply Titans to their second consecutive victory as they narrowly defeated Gbets Rocks in the latest round of Cricket South Africa (CSA) T20 Challenge games on Sunday.
The defending champions won by four wickets at Boland Park, ensuring that all four teams who won their opening fixtures of the 2023/24 campaign on Friday - the others being World Sports Betting Western Province, DP World Lions and Dafabet Warriors – also emerged victorious in round two.
40-year-old spinner Phangiso made his mark with figures of 1/16 from four overs, playing a key role in restricting the Rocks to 126/9 after winning the toss and electing to bat.
Proteas spinner Tabraiz Shamsi was the standout bowler with figures of 4/23, while Lizaad Williams took 2/30.
Despite Sibonelo Makhanya (34) and Rivaldo Moonsamy (25) making good starts up front, the Centurion-based team found themselves in trouble at 99/6 in the 17th over due to Michael Copeland and Siyabonga Mahima's returns of 2/22 each.
But Phangiso's quickfire 25 off 9 balls, including two sixes and four, helped rescue his team and lead them to victory with five deliveries to spare.
In Cape Town, Province easily defeated AET Tuskers by seven wickets at World Sports Betting Newlands Cricket Ground.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat, the KwaZulu-Natal team struggled and only managed to score 115/7. They heavily relied on lower-order pair Keith Dudgeon (26) and Alindile Mhletywa (24).
Kyle Simmonds (2/20) and Nandre Burger (2/22) performed well, supported by Mtiwekhaya Nabe (2/28), as they did on Friday.
Jonathan Bird then scored an unbeaten 61 off just 33 balls (6 fours, 4 sixes) to lead his side to a bonus-point victory with 45 balls to spare.
The Warriors secured their second successive bonus-point win after defeating the Hollywoodbets Dolphins by seven wickets at Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium.
After winning the toss and batting, the home team struggled to get going and ended up with a score of 121/8 in their allotted 20 overs.
The standout bowlers were Marco Jansen (2/14) and Siya Simetu (2/15), while Jon-Jon Smuts, former captain of the Warriors, top-scored with 30.
Jiveshan Pillay (42) and Matthew Breetzke (31) were the main contributors with the bat in the reply, leading their side to a comfortable victory with 35 balls to spare.
Meanwhile, in Potchefstroom, the Lions secured a bonus-point win over the Auto Investments North West Dragons by nine wickets, with Reeza Hendricks impressing with both bat and ball.
Before achieving their 104-run target in just 10.4 overs thanks to a destructive 57 off 30 balls (including 8 fours and 2 sixes), Johannesburg's Junaid Dawood put on a strong bowling display, claiming 3/23.
Kwena Maphaka was also impressed with the new ball, taking 2/11, while captain Bjorn Fortuin contributed with 2/14. Hendricks also made a valuable contribution, bowling three overs and taking 1/18. All in all, it was another impressive performance by the recently crowned CSA 4-Day Series champions.