• Peterson: MICT putting batsmen under pressure

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    MI Cape Town coach Robin Peterson admits his side faces a steep climb after a crushing defeat to Pretoria Capitals at a packed Newlands on Wednesday night.

    The defending champions were bowled out for 135 in pursuit of the Capitals’ 220-5 and remain winless after three matches in this season’s SA20.

    “I don’t think it’s so much the chases. When you chase a score like that, you have to give it a crack,” Peterson said. “We’re probably chasing 30 too many each innings, which puts our batters under pressure. You can’t ask them to chase 220 every game.”

    He acknowledged his team’s inconsistency, noting: “Teams have played well against us. We’ve been a little short in execution with the ball. But we’ve only played two games this comp, one being rained out. It’s been a stop-start affair, and we just have to get back to the drawing board and move forward quickly.”

    HIGHLIGHTS: MI Cape Town vs Pretoria Capitals

    Peterson, meanwhile, praised Kagiso Rabada’s return to action.

    “He’s been very professional behind the scenes. He hadn’t played in about 13 or 14 weeks, and to see him bowl like that and lead the attack was something special.”

    On the squad’s broader mental and physical preparation, he said: “We all have to look at ourselves at the end of the day. It’s not pointing fingers at one department. We only played two games; we still have another seven left. There are a lot of guys hurting after tonight’s result. They want to win at Newlands and make the fans smile, so next game is another opportunity to put it right.”

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    Peterson also addressed the performances of other key bowlers, including Rashid Khan and Jason Smith, stressing the importance of workload management and strategic use.

    “He’s a world-class performer. We’ll manage him as much as we can,” he said of Khan.

    On Smith, Peterson added: “He’s coming back from injury. We’ll probably see him bowl a few overs later in the competition.”

    MI Cape Town are next in action on Friday when they make the short journey up the N1 to take on the Paarl Royals.

    “We have a great squad, great players on the bench who can have an impact. We’ll regroup, refine our execution, and look to turn things around in the next game.

    “There’s more than one way to get to the playoffs. If most of your match winners fire on a night, you can win even from the bottom of the table. We just need to start getting momentum into our game.”

    Photo: Carl Fourie/SA20

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    Lindiz Vanzilla