Seven balls at Newlands and a reminder of what Jason Smith can do

Newlands, covered in an eerie mist, the floodlights shimmering in the background, resembled a scene out of a famous Alfred Hitchcock horror movie.

The situation was equally desperate. Winless after five matches, MI Cape Town’s title defence was hanging on by the barest of threads. The equation was 39 runs required of 19 balls. Where were they going to find a hero to save the day?

Out strode Jason Smith, emerging from the shadows, to take centre stage. Tall and muscular, with inked forearms, he certainly looked the part.

But could he handle the pressure of MI Cape Town’s entire Betway SA20 Season 4 campaign resting on his shoulders?

“Yeah, obviously there was a bit of pressure coming into this game. We knew it was a must win for us,” Smith later

admitted. Smith’s answer was emphatic. He dispatched his first ball - a low full toss - deep into the Newlands night sky to get his engine revving.

“To be fair, I actually wasn't expecting that for the first ball,” he said. “Not often you get a full toss and I feel like sometimes full toss is actually the hardest ball to get away.

“But I’ll definitely take that to get me going and I think it helped me.”

Richard Gleeson was Joburg Super Kings’ bowling hero just a few nights ago at the Wanderers when he nailed a succession of yorkers in the Super Over.

But on Tuesday evening, Smith had the lanky Englishman in his sights. He had already seen his MI Cape Town teammate Nicholas Pooran take down Gleeson in spectacular fashion earlier in the evening when the Trinadian superstar smashed three gargantuan sixes - one of which smashed into the top tier of the Members Stand - all in one over.

“I think Nicky P from the second ball set the tone and it was just unreal to see him striking the ball so cleanly,” Smith said.

With this confidence injection, Smith was ready to switch through the gears and targeted Gleeson.

Having seen the slower ball out of Gleeson’s hand, Smith stood upright and smashed it on the Oaks grass banks. The MI Cape Town faithful that had stayed on despite the constant drizzle throughout the night were now sensing they could be witnessing something special.

It was confirmed the very next ball when Smith creamed Gleeson over wide long-on and into the second tier of the Presidents Pavillion. The cheers were almost deafening now with it echoing all the way down Campground Road.

“Yeah, I think it's really important that they actually stayed. We were actually quite surprised when we pulled up to the stadium that people were actually coming because it was raining at the time and we always appreciate and we're grateful for the support,” Smith said.

“The Newlands faithful are always kind to us and glad we could entertain them tonight.” Unfortunately for Smith and the MI Cape Town faithful, he could not complete the demolition job as he fell next ball, attempting another mighty heave only to be caught on the boundary.

But his 22 off just 7 balls did not just ignite MI Cape Town’s ailing campaign with Karim Janat and Corbin Bosch closing out the game with four balls to spare, it also showed what Proteas coach Shukri Conrad had seen in the former Wynberg Boys’ High School prodigy to book his ticket to next month’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.

“I think I was under a bit of pressure and I think that's only natural,” Smith said. “I'm the type of person that's just trying to enjoy my cricket at the moment and noise will be noise and it's what anyone makes of it.

“I feel like I've been hitting the ball quite sweetly and yeah, long may it continue. I think it's a way that I've been trying to play recently and yeah, I don't think I'm going to change anything.

“I'm not going to try (something else) because if it works, it works. But yeah, I'm just trying to enjoy it and I'm glad we got over the line.”

Smith was also given a vote of confidence from none other than Pooran himself, which should hold him in good stead moving forward.

“For him, the most important thing for him is to learn as fast as possible,” the West Indies T20 legend said.

“He just got selected for the World Cup, heading into India conditions which is really favourable to him where there's a lot of spin going to be bowled.

“He has everything that can make him do well in those conditions. But yeah, a lot of talent there and we're just really happy to see him smashing it for us. So our job is to give him that freedom to express himself without any pressure.”