The Cape Cobras slithered to an all-time low as they suffered a humiliating 39-run defeat in their Standard Bank Cup match against the Lions at Newlands on Friday. On a pitch where bowlers were always in command, the home team could not even salvage the bonus point in chasing a low target.
After restricting the Lions to 160 for nine wickets, the home side could only muster 121 runs in their chase, the final wicket falling in the 41st over.
Any mathematical hopes for the Cobras to reach the semifinals disappeared, while the Lions took a big step forward to ensuring a home semifinal.
Captain Thami Tsolekile won the toss and inserted the Lions. Openers Adam Bacher and Stephen Cook made a measured start. Bacher pulled Charl Willoughby for six in his third over, but the bouncy nature of the pitch was demonstrated as he top-edged a hook to fine leg in the same over.
Willoughby also claimed Vaughan van Jaarsveld’s wicket as he mistimed a drive, and dismissed Neil McKenzie in an excellent spell to claim 3/19. He left the field in favour of super sub Renier Munnik on completing his bowling stint.
Rory Kleinveldt also chipped in with the wickets of Cook and Andrew Hall in the space of three balls, at which stage the Lions were in desperate trouble at 44 for five in the 19th over.
Dumisa Makalima hung around for a while before falling in Vernon Philander’s opening over. Enoch Nkwe then came to the crease and assisted wicketkeeper Matthew Harris in adding an invaluable 48 for the seventh wicket, a Lions record.
Gerhardus Strydom broke the partnership with a fine piece of fielding, throwing down the wicket after diving full length to intercept an off drive.
Werner Coetsee helped Harris to add another 32 for the eighth wicket, another Lions record. The wicket fell when Harris tried to sweep Alan Dawson and skied a catch to short fine leg, but he contributed 56 runs off 74 balls, his third half-century in limited-overs cricket.
Needing to defend an asking rate of less than four to the over, the Lions knew they needed to bowl out the home team. At one stage, McKenzie had five fielders in catching positions.
After the early wicket of Derrin Bassage, Andrew Puttick and Strydom set about digging themselves in. The first run off the bat came in the fifth over, and Puttick only scored off the 19th ball he received. The impressive Friedel de Wet, super sub in place of Cook, had Puttick taken in the slips while the relatively elderly newcomer Saurab Chatterjee dismissed Strydom in similar fashion.
He then also claimed Ian Harvey as the Australian tried to repeat the glorious cover drive off his previous delivery, and at 44 for four the skids were well and truly on.
Munnik tried to put up some resistance, receiving support from Henry Davids in a partnership of 29 for the sixth wicket. Both were dismissed trying to take on Coetsee’s off-spinners, and although Kleinveldt struck two massive sixes off Coetsee, the home side never looked like achieving their moderate target. Indeed, they seemed to have set their sights on the bonus point target of 129 as Dawson and Monde Zondeki tried to guts out the final-wicket partnership.
Chatterjee had returned to claim the wicket of Kleinveldt, who sent a thick edge spiralling to De Wet at third man, and claimed all the points for his team by bowling Zondeki to claim his first four-wicket haul in limited-overs cricket into the bargain.
Harris claimed the man-of-the-match award. He was the only batsman to play with any sort of authority, and added three dismissals to his 56 runs. This was in stark contrast to the poor efforts by both teams, as both franchises recorded their lowest scores in their short histories.
To compound their misery, Philander hobbled to the wicket with Tsolekile as a runner, and his fitness must now be in doubt before the remaining matches around the new year. — Sapa