Knights still firmly in the race for series honours

THE Knights are making a late surge for top honours as the Sunfoil Series nears its end.

Until the past weekend’s matches, it had been a two-horse race between two Gauteng sides – the logleading Titans and the Highveld Lions, who had been unbeaten until they faced the Knights at the weekend.

A motivated Knights side handed the Lions their first defeat of the season at the Wanderers, and thus made a statement that they, too, are firmly in the race with only three rounds of matches remaining in the domestic four-day competition.

Before the match against the Lions, the Knights were third on the log with 65.28 points, just under 17 points adrift of the second-placed side from Johannesburg.

The win at the Bullring saw the Knights retain their third spot, but narrow the Lions’ lead to 3.92 points. The Lions are a further 10.84 points behind the table-topping Titans.

A look at coach Nicky Boje’s side’s remaining fixtures – all against the bottom three teams in the six-team competition – suggests that the Bloemfontein-based Knights could claim their only trophy of the season.

Over the weekend, it took them just three days to claim a 10-wicket win over the Lions after the first day of play was abandoned due to rain.

This week the Knights take on the fifth-placed Cape Cobras in Bloemfontein over four days starting on Friday.

A close and exciting contest between the Titans and fourthplaced Dolphins ended in a draw.

This week the Dolphins host the Lions at the Pietermaritzburg Oval, while the Titans will be at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth to take on the Warriors.