Batsman Temba Bavuma is still without a victory after succeeding former captain Dane Vilas at the Jozi Stars.

Vilas led the Stars to last year’s maiden Mzansi Super League title, but has since left for the Durban Heat. Bavuma, who joined from the Heat, has lost three successive matches.

The streak includes Thursday’s 57-run defeat by the Cape Town Blitz at Newlands in Cape Town, where Bavuma’s half-century went in vain.

‘It’s disappointing. The batting and bowling is not getting us in positions to win. We have to go back to the drawing board. What we are delivering is nowhere close to our best,’ said Bavuma.

‘I’ve come into the tournament to have fun. I hope I can put in some winning performances for the team.’

The result pushed the Blitz to the top of the 2019 tournament’s six-team standings, after the second-placed Nelson Mandela Bay Giants, who will play the Heat at Kingsmead on Friday.

‘We put the pressure on the Stars. I’d like to keep the momentum going, but it’s still early in the tournament. We have been sporadic and hopefully there are more highs than lows,’ added Blitz captain Quinton de Kock, who relished the arrival of Pakistan fast bowler Wahab Riaz.

Riaz removed the dangerous Rassie van der Dussen for a first-ball duck. West Indian opener Chris Gayle also fell for a duck, from five deliveries.

‘Wahab was excellent, picking up a wicket off his second ball in the MSL and it was a really important wicket,’ concluded De Kock.

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