A surge to the top of the log by the Cape Cobras and a surprisingly heavy defeat for the Titans has turned the SuperSport Series into a wide open race for the title.
After three draws and a loss in their first four games, the Cape Cobras were languishing badly on the log, but now successive wins, both achieved in three days, have seen them become the new pace-setters with four rounds remaining.
Their most recent fixture, in Cape Town, saw them demolish the Diamond Eagles by 106 runs in a low-scoring encounter, while the previous weekend, they disposed of the Warriors in Paarl.
At the coalface of the Cobras’ revival has been Vernon Philander, whose 16 wickets — nine this past weekend against the Diamond Eagles — in the last two games have pushed him to the top of the list of SuperSport wicket-takers with 24, along with Johann Louw of the Dolphins.
Also impressive for the Cobras was left-arm spinner Robin Peterson, who hit a vital 70 in the first innings and took six wickets in the match.
The Diamond Eagles will need to have a long hard look at their batting, particularly the middle and lower-order. In the first innings they lost their last five wickets for 11 runs and in the second, chasing a not unreasonable 238 for victory, they collapsed from 122 for four to 131 all out.
Young Rilee Rossouw impressed with two half-centuries, but the result has left them trailing a bit on the log and they’ll need a big push in the remaining four games to return to title contention.
The result pushed the Cobras to 59 points, fractionally less than two points ahead of the Titans and the Lions.
The clash of the Gauteng neighbours in Potchefstroom at the weekend turned into arguably into the Lions’ best performance as a franchise team.
Centuries from Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Zander de Bruyn saw them pile up 550 for seven declared and the Titans could offer no more than 134 and 200 in return.
The Lions earned the handsome total of 19,54 points to shoot up the log, while the single point the Titans earned from the encounter has resulted in a logjam at the top of the log. The Warriors are just four points behind the top three and neither the Diamond Eagles nor the Dolphins are yet out of contention. — Sapa