Dolphins put Knights to sword
Cobras survive collapse to edge champs Titans
IN THE end, it was a stroll for the Dolphins as they pummelled a sorry Knights by seven wickets in their Momentum One-Day Cup clash at a muggy Kingsmead last night.
The Knights, as the trend has been this season, relied almost exclusively on the bat of David Miller to make them at least competitive.
Miller, once of the Dolphins, fought valiantly with a tenacious 79, but cricket remains a team game.
All around him, the visitors tumbled, throttled by an energetic Dolphins attack.
Attie Maposa took the plaudits, with four for 46 from his quota of 10 overs. The left-armer was bowling to a plan, with the short ball in regular use.
Indeed, even the wicket of the well-set Miller was by virtue of one dug in, which the Proteas southpaw mistimed to mid-on.
Calvin Savage took two wickets, carrying on his return to regular action, while Robbie Frylinck produced a gem of a leg-cutter to get rid of Patrick Kruger.
There was no respite for the Knights, a team looking rudderless without Theunis de Bruyn’s runs and single-mindedness.
Miller drove down the ground with terrific force, but he was playing captain of a sinking Titanic.
Eventually, the Dolphins rolled them over for 193 with 49 balls to spare.
In response, the Dolphins tore in.
Erwee drove every bit as surely as Miller, while Morne van Wyk played with the freedom of a man in fine fettle. His shot over extra-cover for six, caught by a merry spectator on the grass, was one of the strokes of the match.
Van Wyk (22) fell immediately after, though, as Rudi Second produced a leaping catch to rival the stunner that Prenelan Subrayen had plucked in the Knights’ knock.
Senuran Muthusamy cane and went for 14 before skipper Khaya Zondo made a welcome return to form, with a composed 43 not out.
Erwee fell just before the end, caught on the squareleg fence for a fine 84.
Sibonelo Makhanya administered the last rites with a six and a four as the Durban outfit claimed a bonus point in the process.
The only blip for the Dolphins was the loss of Cody Chetty to a freak injury in the field, and he left the match to have scans on his collarbone.
There are fears that he may be out for over a month, though those will be tempered by the imminent return of Dane Vilas and Vaughn van Jaarsveld.
The Cape Cobras survived a middle-order collapse to snatch a thrilling one-wicket victory over the Titans at Newlands in their top-of-thetable clash last night.
George Linde (39 not out off 38 balls) and last-man Mthiwekhaya Nabe scampered two runs of the third last ball to edge the home team over the line.
There was, however, further drama out in the middle with the Titans contesting the umpire’s decision after Farhaan Behardien had thrown down the stumps at Linde’s end, only for the ball to ricochet off it which allowed the Cobras batsmen to scamper through for the extra run.
Umpire Bongani Jele ruled that Linde had made his ground, which meant the ball was still well and truly alive.
It was a frenetic ending to a match that both teams let slip at various times.
The Cobras were well set at 152/2 in pursuit of the Titans’ 270/7 in the 30th over.
However, the loss of Simon Khomari to the parttime bowling of Heinrich Klaasen set in the hari-kiri. Khomari (60 off 80 balls, 8x4) had come into the Cobras side due to regular No 3 Aviwe Mgijima having to attend a funeral.
The Cobras collapse was spectacular with the home side losing five wickets for just 30 runs which saw them plummet to 182/7.
However, that brought all-rounders Linde and Rory Kleinveldt to the crease.
The pair added 69 runs for the eighth wicket to keep the Newlands faithful on the edge of their seats, but when Kleinveldt was caught on the square-leg boundary for 45 off 36 balls, the pendulum swung again with the Cobras still needing 20 runs off 20 balls with just two wickets remaining.
The action intensified when Cobras No10 Dane Paterson was dismissed with seven balls still remaining in the innings and four runs required for victory.
Nabe, though, hauled out a textbook defensive shot too keep out Malusi Siboto’s (2/53) final ball.
Earlier, the Titans’ middle-order rescued the visitors from the tricky position of 2/2 after the visitors had elected to bat.
The Cobras impressive new-ball combination of Kleinveldt and Paterson made an immediate impact on their return with the wickets of both openers Andrea Agathangelou and Victor Mahlangu.
The defending champions were not, though, deterred by this double setback with Rivaldo Moonsamy (79 off 103 balls, 7x4, 1x6) and Klaasen (86 off 96 balls, 11x4, 1x6) producing a great counter-attacking partnership of 154 for the third wicket.
Even after Klaasen’s demise, the innings did not lose momentum with new batsman Farhaan Behardien (62 off 56 balls, 4x4, 1x6) involved in two solid partnerships with Moonsamy and captain Albie Morkel.
Ultimately, though, it was just a few runs too little for a determined Cobras side that have now defeated the Titans in the last three white-ball encounters between the two teams.