It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. None of the 16 159 spectators at Newlands on Friday night would have disagreed with that sentiment as Alan Dawson bowled Brent Kops to clinch victory for the Cape Cobras in the final of the MTN Domestic Championship.
This gave the Cape team their first trophy since the advent of the franchise system, while the veteran all-rounder played in his last match in this form of the game.
Thami Tsolekile won the toss and took first use of a slower pitch than that used for the semifinal five days previously.
Openers Adam Bacher and Andrew Puttick got off to a rollicking start. They posted the fifty in the tenth over before Bacher mistimed a drive off Brent Kops. His 41 came off as many balls and included three sixes as well as three fours.
Puttick continued to play freely, reaching his 50 off 57 balls. When he departed, the left-handed duo of JP Duminy and Ashwell Prince played some elegant shots. They shared three boundaries in the 19th over and the Cobras seemed on their way to a massive score.
However, there was not to be another boundary until the 36th over. Duminy chopped Johan Botha’s first delivery onto his off stump, and Benji Hector got a fine edge to the off-spinner shortly afterwards. Suddenly things were not looking as rosy at 119-4 at the half-way mark.
Visiting captain Zander de Bruyn chose to take the pace off the ball, even giving occasional bowler Arno Jacobs a few short spells.
While the boundaries dried up, Prince and Vernon Philander tried to revive the innings with a partnership of 59 off 96 balls. A flurry of wickets fell at the end, Philander going to a brilliant catch on the boundary by Justin Kreusch in the final over. The Cobras ended the innings on 213-9.
Botha bowled superbly to finish with 2-20, while Kreusch (2-24) and Jacobs (2-26) also produced excellent figures. The four quicker bowlers all conceded more than six to the over.
Craig Thyssen and HD Ackerman gave the visitors a steady start with an opening partnership of 62 in fifteen overs.
However, as in the Cobras innings, runs dried up as the ball got softer and the bowlers slowed down the pace. Rory Kleinveldt nevertheless accounted for both openers, and Con de Lange started spectacularly by bowling Zander de Bruyn with his first ball and then trapped Murray Goodwin in the same over.
Jacobs and Kreusch repaired the damage with a crucial partnership of 65 off 75 balls for the fifth wicket.
The former rode his luck, offering four difficult chances, while Kreusch struck some powerful boundaries. After Dawson had bowled a middle spell of two overs that cost eighteen runs, Kleinveldt made the breakthrough.
After that the Warriors fell away, eventually losing their last six wickets for 34 runs in 34 balls.
De Lange finished as he started, with another two wickets in his final over. The seamers kept their heads, with Dawson claiming the big fish as Jacobs’s luck ran out and he was taken in the deep by substitute fielder Paul Adams.
The tail-enders never looked like maintaining the challenge, and victory came with five balls remaining, as the Warriors were bowled out for 195.
Con de Lange’s spell of 4-40 earned him the man-of-the-match award, with a career best analysis. But it was Dawson who was the emotional favourite as the Cobras celebrated their first trophy. — Sapa