Twitter Reactions: Tshwane Spartans stun the NMB Giants to seal a place in the final

The Nelson Mandela Bay Giants have had such a terrific tournament but all of their hardwork came to a bizarre finish.

By Anuraag Peesara

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2 Min Read

Nelson Mandela Bay Giants
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Nelson Mandela Bay Giants. (Photo Source: Twitter)

The Tshwane Spartans have been one of the most attractive sides in the league without a scope of a doubt and they richly deserved a place in the final, which they confirmed with a win in the Eliminator on Friday. They will be up against the table-toppers from the group stages, the Paarl Rocks, for the championship.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Giants had such a terrific tournament thus far and were expected to pull off another big performance in this semifinal fixture. The toss went their way earlier as well and they chose to field first. Dean Elgar and Tony de Zorzi couldn’t give them the best of starts but AB de Villiers played a short-little cameo to get the scoring rate up.

Skipper Heinrich Klaasen’s struggle continued in the tournament as he once again got dismissed for a below-par score. At 79/4, it seemed like a total around 150 would be good enough for the Spartans to pose a strong challenge. But Pite van Biljon had other ideas alongside David Wiese, who chipped in with an important partnership at a good scoring rate.

The duo added 87 runs unbeaten for the 5th wicket, which helped Spartans post a 166-run total on the board losing 4 wickets. Biljon finished with a 32-ball 48 whilst Wiese managed to score 31 runs in 23 deliveries. Nabe picked up 2 wickets for the bowling unit.

Wiese stars again; This time, with the ball

The Bay Giants needed a good start to make a strong case for themselves in this tricky run chase and they failed to get that. Matthew Breetzke, JJ Smuts and Heino Kuhn were dismissed inside the powerplay overs, which left Ben Dunk in no man’s land. Yet, the Australian continued to go about his business and mustered an important 22-ball 35.

Morne Morkel, David Wiese and Corbin Bosch had complete command over the middle overs, not allowing the batting unit any breathing space at any given point. They picked up wickets at regular intervals as well to keep the side away from the chase, besides a small scare coming from Chris Morris in his 23-ball 43.

The Spartans had done a decent job to restrict the Giants to 144 runs, which helped them seal a spot in the final by 22 runs. David Wiese starred again in the game, this time with the ball, registering figures of 3/30.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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MSL (Mzansi Super League)South Africa