Did Jason Smith answer the questions about his place in South Africa's T20 World Cup squad with his blast of 22 off 7 that helped Mumbai Indians Cape Town beat Joburg Super Kings at Newlands on Tuesday?

"I don't think he answered them in one innings; in seven balls," Eric Simons, Joburg's assistant coach, said. "He played really well. He hit some crucial boundaries at crucial times and that took the momentum away from us at a time when [the required runrate] was starting to slip to 13s and 14s. But there's a lot more to T20 cricket than a few hits. He hits the ball hard, he hits the ball a long way, and he's done that a few times this tournament already. But there's some way to go still."

When Smith took guard with 19 balls left in the rain-reduced match, Cape Town needed 39. Wian Mulder's first ball to him was a languid full toss, which Smith monstered over the midwicket boundary for six. Then he took two singles to Nandre Burger, who had the stabilising Rassie van der Dussen caught at cover for 35 off 24 to end that over. Smith spliced a pull off Richard Gleeson to long-off for two to start the penultimate over. He muscled the next ball - a slower bouncer - over midwicket for another six, and hit the next straighter and into the stands beyond long-on for his third six.

And then he was gone. Gleeson came around the wicket, and Smith slapped a pull into long-on's hands. But he left his team needing a manageable 12 off 8. Karim Janat and Corbin Bosch took them there with four balls to spare.

Along with Nicholas Pooran's lusty 33 off 15, Smith's searing intervention earned the defending champions' first win in the six games they have played in this year's SA20. Take Smith's jolt of an innings out of the equation and that would likely not have happened.

Sadly, and bizarrely considering Smith was the story of the match, Cape Town's management declined to honour the media's request that he appear at the post-match press conference. Pooran came instead.

"He hits the ball like a West Indian, but there's a lot for him to learn as well," Pooran said of Smith. "The most important thing for him is to learn as fast as possible. He's just been selected for the T20 World Cup. He's heading to India, where conditions will be favourable for him. He has everything that can make him do well there.

"We're really happy to see him smashing it for us. So our job is to give him that freedom to express himself without any pressure."

Smith's performance was a timely blow against the tide of criticism that followed his selection in the T20 World Cup squad, which was announced on Friday. What had he done to deserve that, was the gist of it. Because Smith is brown, the theory that he was picked to balance the race equation soon took hold.

The only clear bit of statistical evidence to support his selection was the 68 not out he hammered off 19 for KwaZulu-Natal Coastal in a T20 against Northerns in Centurion in November. Two innings later in the same competition he made 58, but more sedately off 41. For that he is given a place in a World Cup squad?