Inland batters continued to struggle in Gqeberha as the Knights’ and the Dragons’ low scores were chased with relative ease by the WP Blitz and the Dolphins respectively.
Western Province Blitz & Itec Knights started things off on Day 10 as teams looked to book a place in the semis of the competition.
Inform Blitz bowlers, Basheer Walters, Wayne Parnell and Junaid Dawood produced tight spells that saw the Knights batters post 126-8. Only Jacques Snyman, Patrick Kruger and Pite van Biljon managed double-digit scores.
The Blitz were exceptional in the field and showed determination to keep their unbeaten record in this edition of the tournament.
Richard Levi and George Linde made comebacks for the Blitz after missing a few of the games. Levi, Jonathan Bird and Tony de Zorzi went on the attack as they kept their sights on a possible bonus-point win.
It took them only 15.5 overs to chase the required 127 runs and secure a bonus-point victory.
Game 2 was highly anticipated as the North West Dragons and the Hollywoodbets Dolphins have shown glimpses of brilliance in the tournament.
Led by David Miller, the Dolphins still hold a record for the highest total in this year’s competition. While Dragons, with Dwaine Pretorius at the forefront, were involved in the only match that went to the Super Over to decide the winner.
Batting first, the Dragons sent Tahir Isaacs and Wesley Marshall to take on the new ball and get them to a good start in the powerplay. To their disappointment, Ottneil Baartman produced yet another brilliant spell. He recorded figures of 1-2 in his first 2-over spell.
Andile Phehlukwayo also came to the party for the Dolphins. This time around, he returned figures of 1-19 in his 4-over spell. Only Pretorius (39 off 34) and Nicky van den Bergh (52 off 37) were able to make decent scores as an unrelenting Dolphins bowling attack kept them quiet.
Chasing 136 to win, Grant Roelofsen (19 off 27) and Keegan Petersen (43 off 36) took to the crease for the Dolphins and put on an opening stand of 60 runs. The Dolphins batters turned what was expected to be an easy run-chase into a difficult one.
They found themselves on 86-1 after 13 overs, needing 50 off 42 deliveries with two new batters at the crease. With six overs of spin left, David Miller and Khaya Zondo, struggled to find boundaries as spinners dried up the runs in a spinner-friendly wicket in Gqeberha.
Zondo (19 off 16) and Miller (35 off 26) eventually went on the attack and wrapped up the chase with 8 balls to spare.
