David Miller’s 86-ball 123 included seven fours and six sixes © Associated Press
Centuries from opener Rassie van der Dussen (102 off 138 balls) and Dwaine Pretorius (115 off 79 balls) were in vain for Lions as they fell five short of the 312 target set by Knights in Kimberley. David Miller‘s unbeaten 86-ball 123, his third one-day hundred since February, had propelled Knights to 311 for 6 after they opted to bat and the win kept their knockout chances alive. When Lions needed 16 from six balls, Willem Mulder struck a six on the first ball of the last over but Shadley van Schalkwyk five off the next five balls to seal the thrilling win for Knights.
Van der Dussen lost four partners by the 23rd over of the chase, and with Lions needing 210 runs off 167 deliveries, the opener was joined by Pretorius. They added 144 runs off 138 balls to keep the visitors in contention before van der Dussen was trapped in front by Dillon du Preez. Mulder (30* off 15) joined Pretorius – who struck eight fours and four sixes during his maiden List A century – and brought the equation down from 61 from 25 to 24 from 12, but the wicket of Pretorius in the 49th over meant they needed 16 off the final over. They eventually needed six off the last delivery and Schalkwyk conceded only a single, giving Knights their fifth win of the tournament. Sammy Mofokeng finished with economical figures of 9-0-49-0 and offspinner Aubrey Swanepoel finished his 10 overs for a miserly 2 for 44.
Earlier, useful partnerships at the top helped Knights amass a challenging total. Opener Keegan Petersen hit five fours and a six in his patient knock of 75 but it was Miller whose rapid century – studded with seven fours and six sixes – helped them power past 300 with some support from the lower order. While he reached his fifty in as many balls, he took only 28 deliveries more to bring up his eighth List A hundred. Pretorius and Wihan Lubbe were the only two of the seven Lions bowlers to concede at less than six per over.
Chris Morris earned the Player-of-the-Match award for his 3 for 30 © Getty Images
Chris Morris and AB de Villiers made resounding returns to Momentum One Day Cup, as they helped Titans thump Warriors by seven wickets in the penultimate round-robin match of the tournament, at Willowmoore Park in Benoni. Morris’ 3 for 30 set the tone for Titans as they bowled Warriors out for 147 and Titans chased it down with 131 balls to spare, led by de Villiers’ unbeaten 75, and claimed the top spot from Dolphins with six wins from nine matches ahead of the final set of games on Thursday.
Morris made his presence felt at the very outset, bowling Warriors opener Gihahn Cloete off the second ball of the match. Fellow fast bowler Lungi Ngidi (3 for 32) further compounded Warriors’ poor start, removing the two Colins – Ingram and Ackermann – with a double-strike in the sixth over. Captain JJ Smuts (39), the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament, resisted Warriors’ slide with a 66-run, fourth-wicket partnership with Yaseen Vallie, whose 61-ball 44 could only push Warriors to 113, before Morris had him caught behind in the 30th over. Jerry Nqolo (26) and Andrew Birch (16) were the only two other batsmen to get into double figures as Warriors folded in 41.2 overs, with the last three wickets falling for seven runs.
In reply, Titans suffered the early loss of Jonathan Vandiar (1), but Aiden Markram and Heino Kuhn added 23 each, before de Villiers made short work of the chase, clobbering ten fours and one six on his way to a 62-ball 75. His unbeaten 87-run stand for the fourth wicket with Farhaan Behardien (24*) helped Titans overhaul the target in 28.1 overs.
Titans are now placed at the top of the table and whichever team tops the league after the last round of matches is guaranteed a home final.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo