SA20 | Twitter dazed as last-ball thriller leaves Miller and Baartman ruing despite clinching dramatic win

Paarl Royals won the toss and chose to bat first in their SA20 encounter against MI Cape Town at Boland Park on Friday, with the latter still seeking their first win of the season after failing to procure one in the first three games. Openers Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Asa Tribe got the hosts off to a flier with a century stand in just 10 overs with both scoring half-centuries, the former eventually ending unbeaten on 98 off 65 to take the side to a formidable score of 181/3. In response, Ryan Rickelton and Rassie van der Dussen replicated their rivals' effort by blistering their way to 64 by the end of the powerplay, and were cruising at 109/1 after 12 overs when Sikandar Raza struck thrice in quick succession to reduce them to 118/6. Nevertheless, a blistering 18-ball 35 from Rashid Khan kept MI in the game and when all was said and done, the visitors were left needing six on the final ball with George Linde on strike and Ottniel Baartman wielding the Kookaburra. What followed was pure cinema.

Baartman went for the tried and tested option of the wide yorker to make sure his compatriot could not get under the ball, but missed his mark by just a hint. It was enough for Linde to crouch low and whip his bat fervously to send the ball flying flat in the point region. All eyes on the ground were lasered in on the white rock but as it neared the boundary, no one could be sure of which side of the rope it had landed at. Miller feared the worst and immediately hid his hands with his arms, while Baartman went from raising his hands in jubilation to placing them behind his head in agony assuming the ball had gone for a six. Holariously, the MI dugout ventured the same reaction as they stood up to celebrate before deflating in defeat, while the Royals dugout stationed exactly behind where the ball had gone erupted in celebration. Eventually, it was their reaction that sold Miller on the result as he clapped in encoutagement having pulled off the result but Baartman was still too shocked to respond, his palms remaining glued to the back of his head with a wide grin plastered on his face.

Replays showed the ball had missed the boundary toblerones by the barest of margins to end up as a one-bounce four, thus resigning MI to a one-run defeat in one of the most dramatic last-ball finishes in recent memory.

What an end!

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