Kuhn leads Titans past Dolphins
THE pocket rocket from Piet Retief, Heino Kuhn, proved the saviour of the Titans once again when he struck his second century in five days to see his team home by five wickets over the Dolphins in their Momentum One-Day Cup play-off last night.
Last Friday the 29-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman slammed a lightning century against the Warriors in East London to help his team win with a bonus point, thereby helping them to qualify for yesterday’s match. Last night he completed the second leg of his task, striking 102 in 117 balls.
Kuhn must now hope that the Titans can complete a remarkable comeback from near no-hopers to cup winners in the final against the Cobras in Cape Town on Friday. He was certainly the difference between the two teams yesterday as he did what was necessary to earn his team an impressive victory.
Chasing a middling total of 238 for victory, Kuhn played almost a lone hand until he joined up with Graeme van Buuren with the total on 140/4 in the 31st over. With Van Buuren playing an increasingly aggressive role, the two men quickly took the match away from the Dolphins, running brilliantly between the wickets and striking splendidly all round the field to add 71 in 77 balls for the fifth wicket.
Although Kuhn was eventually dismissed, well caught by Daryn Smit in the covers off Kyle Abbott, the Titans had enough in hand to clinch victory with nine balls to spare.
Earlier, Dolphins’ captain Morné van Wyk won the first mini-battle under sunny skies when he won the toss and opted to bat first. The Dolphins fielded the same team that played the previous Friday against the Cobras, but tweaked their batting order with Cameron Delport accompanying his skipper to the crease.
The two men gave the team a solid start as they added 53 for the first wicket. The Titans went for the surprise option of opening the bowling with two of their spinners, Roelof van der Merwe and leg-spinner Shaun von Berg, before reverting to pacemen Ethy Mbhalati and CJ de Villiers.
It was Mbhalati who made the initial breakthrough, finding the edge of Delport’s bat as he pushed forward, with Qaasim Adams picking up the first of two good catches at slip.
Delport’s dismissal signalled a period of strife for the Dolphins with Imraan Khan and Vaughn van Jaarsveld falling to soft dismissals, while Cody Chetty edged a superb delivery from Von Berg to slip.
At this stage, it was essential that Van Wyk bat through most of his team’s overs, so his avoidable dismissal for 48 in 73 balls was a body blow to the Dolphins’ cause. The key moment came in the 28th over when Van Wyk tried to square cut Van der Merwe but only succeeded in top-edging the ball that looped to Francois Le Clus at backward point.
And when Khaya Zondo and Robbie Frylinck departed soon afterwards, the latter most unfortunately, the Dolphins were drooping on 146/7. It was then that Smit and Abbott teamed up to save their team’s blushes.
The two put together 84 and helped the Dolphins to a respectable total. MUMBAI, India: With Sachin Tendulkar set to hang up his bat, the best cricketers of his era have been unstinting in their praise.
From feared opponents such as Shane Warne and Brian Lara to respected teammates Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, everyone has picked different features of Tendulkar’s greatness and found unanimity on one point – there will not be another one like him.
West Indies great Lara, with whom he has often been compared, said Tendulkar was to cricket what Muhammad Ali was to boxing.
“There are boxers with better records than Muhammad Ali, but if you mention the word boxing, you have to mention Muhammad Ali,” Lara said at a Tendulkar farewell function. “When you talk of basketball, you have to mention Michael Jordan. When you speak about cricket, I’d speak of Tendulkar.”
Australia legspinner Warne, who dismissed Tendulkar three times in 12 Tests, said his greatness went beyond his numerous batting records.
“Sachin Tendulkar was the best batsman of my generation and it will be a privilege to be in Mumbai this week to commentate on the first two days of his final Test,” Warne wrote in his column for the Daily Telegraph. “The pressure he was under from the Indian public was immense but he handled himself on and off the field in a way that was respected by all.”
Tendulkar plays his 200th and last Test for India against West Indies from tomorrow.
“There will not be another Sachin Tendulkar,” Warne added. “I always teach young players that cricket is not about averages even if it is a statsbased game. It is about how and when you score runs or take wickets. The great players deliver when the team is up against it and statistics do not tell you the truth about such things.”
Dravid, who was in a record 20 century partnerships with Tendulkar in Tests, considers him the most dependable batsman.
“To bat for my life, I would probably choose Sachin; and if I had a ticket and if I had enough money to watch one, I would choose Lara,” Dravid said in his ode to Tendulkar.
Ganguly, one of India’s most successful captains, said Tendulkar was a champion batsman but felt he should have retired earlier.
“The last two to three years have not been good for him,” Ganguly said. “It’s only because he’s Tendulkar that he’s been given that run. No-one else in world cricket would have been given that run.”
Ganguly said it was apt that his farewell game was being played on his home ground, where India also won the 2011 World Cup.
“It’s a fact that at some stage you have to go. Playing in South Africa (where India tour next) he would not have got such adulation. It is the right send-off for a champion. But if I was in his place, I’d have gone a year earlier,” Ganguly said.
But former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist felt Tendulkar was still a vital team member even during his lean period.
“I’m sure if you ask Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma what’s been the most valuable part of them being around Sachin Tendulkar, him scoring a hundred or him just being there, I think just to be around Sachin they would all be very excited,” Gilchrist said at a promotional event yesterday. – Sapa-AP