England batsman Dawid Malan has signed off a successful, albeit brief, stint as captain of the Cape Town Blitz.

The Blitz followed up a comfortable victory over the Tshwane Spartans at Newlands on Friday with another against the Durban Heat at Kingsmead 48 hours later.

The outcomes put them at the top of the inaugural Mzansi Super League’s standings and fortified their status among the tournament favourites.

Pakistan batsman Asif Ali and local seamer Anrich Nortje starred on Sunday. The former struck an entertaining 80 from 33 deliveries and the latter completed telling figures of 4-32.

Malan captained the XI in the absence of Proteas batsman Farhaan Behardien, who will soon return from the Proteas’ limited-overs tour of Australia.

‘You need the momentum in T20 cricket. We have been fantastic in these two games. These first two games are probably the most important for us, as we’re missing four of our international players,’ said Malan.

‘It’s too early to say we are favourites. I’ll hand it over to Behardien and he can take it over from there. Good luck to him.’

Defeated Heat captain Albie Morkel lauded Ali’s performance, which featured seven fours and five sixes, which secured him the Player of the Match award.

‘We were in the game going into the last five overs of the chase, but Ali batted really nicely. He’s an unknown factor to us. I will keep backing my spinners. South Africa needs a competition like this and it’s great to be part of it,’ added Morkel.

Photo: Anesh Debiky/Gallo Images