The Keshav Maharaj-led Dolphins top the One-Day Cup standings, as we wrap up the last round of fixtures.
Cape Cobras vs Titans
The Titans won the mid-week fixture by a whooping 95 runs.
Prior to the fixture, Dean Elgar had been in good touch but struggled to convert his starts into big scores, the “brain fart” he suffered in the Test series seemed to carry over to franchise cricket.
The 32-year-old eventually registered his first ton of the season when he scored an unbeaten 108 off 114.
I think Mandla Mashimbyi (Titans Head Coach), Geoffrey Toyana (Assistant Coach) and Grant Thomson (Captain) have made a smart decision by batting Elgar at four to be the glue of that top order with all the experience he has.
The home side had a disastrous start to their run-chase when they lost Janneman Malan two balls into the innings courtesy of Thomson’s medium-pace bowling.
From there, the Cobras didn’t recover as the young Imraan Manack (4/48 in 10 overs) kept coming at them, picking up wickets at regular intervals.
In his first game as captain of the One-Day side, Zubayr Hamza was the only batter who showed any resistance.
The 24-year-old batsman fell just seven runs short from registering back-to-back centuries.
Knights vs Dolphins
Keshav Maharaj has been outstanding for the Dolphins this season, leading from the front with both bat and ball.
Maharaj returned figures of 4/32 in 10 overs to help dismiss the Knights to what was the second-lowest score of the season.
The Dolphins chased the total in 21.4 overs and won by five wickets, registering a second bonus-point win against the Knights this season.
Warriors vs Lions
The Warriors handed the Lions their first defeat of the competition.
The toss at St George’s Park is proving to be a very important part of the game. It seems to be easier to chase than to set totals in 50-over games.
Which explains why the Warriors Captain, Rudi Second, didn’t hesitate to send the visitors in to bat first after he won the toss.
The Lions managed to post 221 after 47.3 overs, with Onke Nyaku finishing with figures of 3/39 in 9 overs.
Wihan Lubbe (50 off 57 balls) and Delano Potgieter (62 off 71 balls) were impressive for the Lions, batting at five and six respectively.
The youngsters put together a 95-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
The Warriors didn’t have the best of starts when they lost Lesiba Ngoepe cheaply at the top of the order.
Sine Qeshile (66 off 77 balls) and Eddie Moore (64 off 85 balls) recovered nicely from that early blow.
They read the game very well, took time to set themselves in for big scores and were explosive towards the end of their innings.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t go all the way and see the Warriors to victory which meant Yaseen Vallie and Marco Marais were left with the job of finishing off the Lions.
The Warriors won the match comfortably by six wickets with 38 balls to spare.
Lions vs Cape Cobras
Zubayr Hamza led the visitors to a competitive 302/5 after 50 overs.
Hamza put the Lions attack to the sword and notched-up a second ton of the campaign.
What has been impressive about Hamza’s form is that he is scoring his runs at a good rate, at a strike rate of over 100.
Chasing 303 runs for victory, Reeza Hendricks and Ryan Rickelton put on a 49-run opening stand.
The Lions were in all sorts of trouble when Thando Ntini struck two quick blows after Aviwe Mgijima ran-out the in-form Rickelton.
Suddenly, the good start the Lions had was negated in a space of four overs and they found themselves at 75/3 after 13 overs.
Again, Delano Potgieter (66 off 35 balls) was in a match-saving partnership, this time with Nicky van den Bergh (59 off 76 balls), they put together a 95-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
Ntini was brought back in for his middle-over spell and struck two blows to end the partnership between Potgieter and van den Bergh.
That meant Nono Pongolo had to deliver one of his heroic performances, the man from Langa in Cape Town did not disappoint.
The Lions were on 263/7 with 5.1 overs remaining, needed 43 runs to win.
Pongolo (43 off 40 balls) took it deep and laid the foundation for Aaron Phangiso to finish things off.
The Lions won the thriller of a match by only one wicket.
Photo: Charlé Lombard/BackpagePix
