Amla, Bavuma the only shining lights in dismal Cobras performance

A NEW season was expected to bring in fresh beginnings for the Cape Cobras. But after the opening day of the Sunfoil Series, they find themselves in the very same perilous position.

Even with Proteas stars Hashim Amla and Temba Bavuma included in the Cobras line-up, the visitors were still rolled for a paltry 159 in Bloemfontein yesterday. Amla, at least, top-scored with 56 off 70 balls (6x4; 2x6) while Bavuma was next best with 25 (55 balls, 5x4).

But a sum total of 125 balls between two of his middle-order stalwarts would not have been what new Proteas coach Ottis Gibson would have wanted when he instructed the national players to get some game time in ahead of the first Test against Bangladesh next week.

Equally, Cobras coach Ashwell Prince would have expected a lot more from his premier batsman, and in fact, the rest of his batting unit too.

Instead, it was the defending champions who showed there were no gremlins in the pitch that allowed medium-pacer Shadley van Schalkwyk to claim 5/30 from 15 overs.

The Knights were dominant from the outset, and bar the loss of opener Grant Mokoena for 16, have looked like the defending champions that they are. Former Cobras batsman Keegan Petersen put his former teammates to the sword with an unbeaten 70.

It was, however, the Knights captain Theunis de Bruyn who would have made the biggest impression on Gibson. De Bruyn started the new season in just the right fashion with an undefeated 81 to propel the Knights to 180/1 after just 43 overs.

Dane Paterson was the only Cobras bowler to gain any success after having Mokoena caught at slip by Amla.

Meanwhile, on his first day on the job, new Titans skipper Aiden Markram couldn’t put a foot wrong. He won the toss against the Dolphins and opted to bat first, before helping himself to a day one century.

That Markram took to the dual challenge of captaincy and opening the batting like the so-called duck to water is no surprise. We know he can bat, and those in the know maintain that the only thing more impressive than his range of strokes is his ability to read a game as a leader.

Markram tends to score quickly, and he hurried to his century off just 143 balls. What would have pleased the selectors just as much is the early season touch of Faf du Plessis, as the national captain weighed in with 96, scoring his runs in a hurry, facing just 136 balls.

Markram’s 112 was the cornerstone of the Titans’ dominance on day one, as they gleaned 373 for six from 96 overs, against a Dolphins attack that relied heavily on the nagging accuracy of Robbie Frylinck. The burly all-rounder picked up where he left off last term in red-ball cricket, snaring four for 52 in 16 accurate overs, trying desperately to keep the Durbanites in the contest.

Quinton de Kock, yet another Protea in a powerful Titans side, also found some form, with a measured 54, before he was added to Frylinck’s collection. Titans coach Mark Boucher had expressed his wish for a fast start, and the team certainly did that, led by their young skipper with an acute sense of timing.