MSL T20 2018, Match 1, Cape Town Blitz vs Tshwane Spartans, Match Prediction: Who will win the Match?

Will AB de Villiers set the stage on fire in the tournament opener?

Published - 15 Nov 2018, 18:46 IST | Updated - 15 Nov 2018, 18:46 IST

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Until now there were only discussions about Cricket South Africa (CSA) coming up with its own T20 league. Their last attempt was messed up very badly and many felt that the board has shelved their plans. But CSA kept trying and here they are with Mzansi Super League (MSL) – the six-team tournament. Tshwane Spartans and Cape Town Blitz will lock horns in the season opener and the fever of the competition has taken over in the country.

AB de Villiers, Spartans skipper, will be hogging the limelight without any doubt. He is returning to the field for the first time having retired from the international arena after the Indian Premier League (IPL). He has geared up for the contest with a scintillating 93-run knock off just 31 balls and another such blitz should be the perfect start to the inaugural edition of MSL T20.

Pitch and Weather

The Newlands will host the first game of the competition which means this will be an away game for the Spartans. Needless to say that the pitch will be full of runs as the sole purpose of arranging the tournament is entertainment for the cricket fans. As far as the weather in Cape Town is concerned, the temperatures will hover around 15-17 Degrees Celsius during the game. The winter has set in nicely it seems and an exciting 40-over contest awaits everyone.

Team Combinations

Cape Town Blitz

Cape Town will go into this game without two of its best players. Quinton de Kock and Andile Phehlukwayo are currently on Australia tour and will only return after playing a solitary T20I on Saturday. Farhaan Behaardien is also in Australia and in that case, their squad gets trimmed to 13 and all the three available overseas players will make it to the playing XI. Dale Steyn will most likely lead the side.

Interestingly three Pakistan players in Asif Ali, Hussain Talat and Mohammad Nawaz are part of the home team and all of them might play in this encounter. There is not much clarity over the combinations they will prefer to go with. But Dawid Malan and Janneman Malan are likely to open the innings as they did in the warm-up game.

Probable XI: Dawid Malan, Janneman Malan, Hussain Talat, Jason Smith, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, David Bedingham (wk), Anrich Nortje, Malusi Siboto, Dale Steyn (c), Dane Piedt/Ferisco Adams.

Tshwane Spartans

Spartans will miss Lungi Ngidi’s services for the tournament opener but they’ve variety in their line-up. Eoin Morgan and AB de Villiers, two of the best T20 players, are part of the side and clearly will be the favourites going into the encounter. Even Rilee Rossouw will be key to the team while the availability of Sean Willliams and Sikandar Raza for this game is still not clear.

The duo was part of the Bangladesh tour which ended on Thursday. Jeevan Mendis from Sri Lanka can fill up the all-rounder slot if they fail to make it while the likes of Robbie Frylinck and Theunis de Bruyn can also more than make-up for them.

Probable XI: Gihahn Cloete (wk), Tony de Zorzi, AB de Villiers (c), Eoin Morgan, Rilee Rossouw, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams/Jeevan Mendis, Robbie Frylinck, Andrew Birch, Shaun von Berg, Rory Kleinveldt.