Five-wicket Kleinveldt on song for Cobras

A MAIDEN career five-wicket haul by veteran Rory Kleinveldt laid the platform for the Cape Cobras to secure their place in the Momentum One-Day Cup semifinals thanks to a comfortable sevenwicket win over the Knights in Cape Town yesterday.

The 36-year-old seamer claimed an impressive five for 22 to help shoot out the visitors for 186 at Newlands, before Zubayr Hamza’s unbeaten 65 (84 balls, 6 fours) guided the hosts to their target with 35 balls remaining.

Victory guaranteed the Cobras a place in next week’s play-offs after they moved to 20 points on the table, with the Knights (14 points) now having to beat the already qualified Titans on Saturday and hope other final round results go their way to have a chance of progressing.

In a good showing in front of their home fans, Ashwell Prince’s side were made to field first after losing the toss, but their opponents lost three wickets before even getting to 10 as Kleinveldt accounted for Patrick Kruger for a duck as well as Keegan Petersen for two, before Vernon Philander, who was also hugely impressive with one for 30 in 10 overs, dismissed Andries Gous (7).

Captain Pite van Biljon managed just 14, before he too fell, with Rudi Second (49) and Grant Mokoena (44) then doing their best to try and stabilise things with 40s apiece. That did momentarily give the Knights hope after they progressed to 118 for four – the pair adding 73 for the fifth wicket.

Rookie Tsepo Ndwandwa (1/35) eventually broke the stand and from there it was the Kleinveldt show as he blew away the tail to end with lifetime best figures, the fifth of which took him to 200 List A wickets.

His previous best in a career spanning 172 games was four for 22 for South Africa against Pakistan at Bloemfontein in 2012/13.

The Cobras had little trouble chasing down the target, bar a point where they lost Pieter Malan (17) and Janneman Malan (25) relatively close to each other.

That left them at 56 for two, and after 27 by Aviwe Mgijima, Hamza and Kyle Verreynne (44 not out off 55 balls, 4 fours) shared in an unbroken 87-run stand that led their side to an important win.

Meanwhile, an excellent final two overs by Malusi Siboto and Wiaan Mulder helped the Highveld Lions stay in the hunt thanks to a tense seven-run win over the Titans in Benoni.

Chasing 305 for victory, the hosts were cruising along at 288 for six heading into the final 12 deliveries, but Siboto (1/50) conceded just four in the penultimate over in which he also took a wicket, before Mulder (2/46) went for five in over number 50 when he too struck.

It meant the home side could only muster 297 for eight in reply, handing the visitors a massive lifeline.

They now moved level on 14 points with the Knights, with the pair trailing the Warriors by four points – leaving a threeway tussle for one spot in the top four.

The match was more than just the final two overs, though, with impressive performances from players on both sides right the way through.

There was a seventh century in a losing cause from Jonathan Vandiar (111 off 124 balls), whose side are already assured of top spot on the table, while man-ofthe-match Dominic Hendricks struck an equally key 93 (110 balls, 9 fours).

There was good support for the latter by Kagiso Rapulana (60 off 72 balls) in an opening role as the pair put on 135 for the first wicket after the Lions won the toss and batted first.

Wihan Lubbe followed them with a quick-fire 51 off 42 balls (7 fours) with Wiaan Mulder plundering 36 off 29 to give the visitors a strong total.

Junior Dala continued his good recent form with the ball by grabbing four for 54.

Bjorn Fortuin (2/59) and Nandre Burger (2/53) pegged the Titans back to 32 for two early on, before a big stand of 126 for the third wicket between Vandiar and captain Dean Elgar (62 off 67 balls) put the home team on track for victory.

Even after the stand-in skipper departed, Grant Thomson (31) added 62 for the third wicket with the centurion to take the score to 220 for three.

But the chase lost momentum from there as the Lions held their nerve at the death to complete the derby double.

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