A brilliant partnership of 94 runs off just 87 balls between Justin Kemp and Gerald Dros ended the KZN Dolphins’ hopes of victory in their Standard Bank Cup match against the Easterns Titans at Willowmoore Park in Benoni on Sunday.
Dros came to the crease with the Titans struggling on 106 for four, needing 114 runs off 105 balls for victory. But the tall right-hander ended up smashing 59 not out off just 49 balls, hitting three sixes off Dale Benkenstein and one each off Zahir Abrahim and Lance Klusener. He took his time playing himself in on a slow pitch difficult for strokeplay, before affirming that he is one of the most skilled practitioners of limited-overs batting in the country with a furious onslaught in the closing overs.
Kemp also showed his mettle in scoring 54 off 64 balls as the pair took on the daunting task of reducing a required run-rate that was nudging eight at one stage.
AB de Villiers and Gulam Bodi had provided the early platform for the later acceleration with a fluent second-wicket stand of 69, before Bodi was out for 30, wafting an Andrew Tweedie delivery to a deepish mid-off. The Dolphins then got a grip on the game by taking two quick wickets, as both De Villiers and Daryll Cullinan showed
foolish shot selection.
De Villiers, having just reached a 73-ball half-century, steered an Abrahim delivery to wicketkeeper Duncan Brown, who anticipated well, and Cullinan scored jyst one run before lofting Benkenstein to wide mid-off, Klusener not needing to move to take the catch.
But Kemp and Dros pulled off a fine win with powerful strokeplay and, more importantly, composed shot selection.
The four-wicket win with an over to spare was a big one for the Titans, lifting them to second on the log. Earlier, the KZN Dolphins had scored 219 for seven in their 45 overs after being sent in to bat by the Titans. Benkenstein top-scored for the Dolphins with 59 to maintain his lead in the day/night averages and Klusener applied the finishing touches to the innings with 31 not out.
But early on the Dolphins battled to break the shackles of tight bowling on the slow pitch and lost wickets at regular intervals, several to shots of dross quality.
None of the Titans attack, save perhaps for Ethy Mbhalati (9-0-48-0), could be faulted on a pitch that did not offer them any major assistance. The stocky Andre Nel was the pick of the attack, having opener Imraan Khan caught at slip for nine and conceding just 30 runs in his nine overs, while medium-pacer Pierre de Bruyn came on in the 22nd over and undermined the middle-order.
Albie Morkel also maintained the pressure on the KZN batsmen with his two for 40 in nine overs. Mbhalati had 29 runs hit off his opening five-over spell as Doug Watson and Wade Wingfield put on 51 off 64 balls for the second wicket. They were just starting to open their shoulders when Morkel sent them both back to the pavilion.
Wingfield struck three fours in his 23 before he was bowled trying to hit a straight ball leg-side, and Watson played a dreadful shot to get out, driving rashly at a wide half-volley.
The opener had played with some freedom in scoring 32 off 47 balls, with five fours. De Bruyn then joined the attack and raised the ante by dismissing Ashraf Mall (11) and Brown (14), Mall playing on and Brown paying the price when he tried to hit the medium-pacer over long-on. But Benkenstein refused to be budged and he reached his third half-century of the campaign off 60 balls before Dros repeated his catch off Brown to give Kemp his second
wicket.
Klusener was his usual irritating self for the fielding side in the last five overs, his 31 not out coming off just 30 balls.
Teams: Dolphins: I Khan, DJ Watson, WR Wingfield, DM Benkenstein, A Mall, JC Kent, *L Klusener, +DL Brown, ANW Tweedie, ZA Abrahim, M Ngam. Titans: +AB de Villiers, AN Petersen, G Dros, JM Kemp, *DJ Cullinan, JA Morkel, G Toyana, P de Bruyn, GH Bodi, A Nel, EN Mbhalati. – Sapa