Typhoon Tsotsobe whacks Warriors

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

LONWABO Tsotsobe’s 5/44 earned the Lions victory over the Warriors in their One-Day Cup match in Potchefstroom on Sunday.

The Lions totalled 291/5 after being put in to bat and then dismissed the Warriors for 273 in 49.3 overs to win by 20 runs.

Tsotsobe, who played his first list A game since December, 2013 because of an ankle injury, maintained a steady leg-stump line and used seam movement and variations of pace to claim his wickets.

The Warriors, meanwhile, will wonder how they managed to lose their last five wickets for 30 runs in seven overs.

“We seemed to find ways to get out and that was disappointing,” said Warriors captain Colin Ingram, who kept wicket for the first time in his career in the wake of a rash of injuries.

Lions skipper Stephen Cook concurred: “They found ways to get out and gave us a gap back into the game.”

Half-centuries by Quinton de Kock, Neil McKenzie and Thami Tsolekile took the Lions to their handy total of 291/5.

The Lions looks set to roar past 300 before losing De Kock, Temba Bavuma and Stephen Cook in nine overs. But they scored 62 runs off the last five overs, all except five balls of which were faced by McKenzie or Tsolekile.

Not that the Warriors looked bothered by that late blast while JJ Smuts and Ingram were putting on 115 for the second wicket.

When the Warriors reached 241/5 in the 44^th over, the game seemed in the bag. But Tsotsobe, who took three of the last five wickets, had other ideas.

Knights v Cobras

The first 11 balls of the Knights’ game against the Cobras in Kimberley on Saturday dumped the Free Staters in a hole from which they never escaped.

With that, the Knights were reduced to 7/3 on their way to being dismissed for 162 in 41 overs.

Rain reduced the match to 48 overs-a-side, but the Cobras needed only 33.4 to get the job done with three wickets down.

Rory Kleinveldt, who removed Reeza Hendricks and Gerhardt Abrahams in the first over with catches behind the wicket and in the covers, and Shaheen Khan took seven wickets between them.

Rilee Rossouw swatted Zakhele Qwabe for three fours in the latter’s first over on his Cobras debut, but the medium pacer struck back by trapping Rudi Second in front and having Werner Coetsee, who scored 57, caught behind in his third.

All the Cobras required to stay on top was a weighty partnership, which they got when Andrew Puttick, who scored 89 not out, and Justin Ontong took them home with an unbroken effort of 101.

Titans v Dolphins

The Titans would have thought their total of 340/6 would have rendered them bulletproof to most replies, but it proved within reach of the Dolphins in Centurion on Friday.

Rain revised the visitors’ target to 301 in 42 overs, and they chased it down with five wickets standing and as many balls to spare.

Not often does one century trump two, but Morne van Wyk’s masterful 121 not out proved more valuable on the night than list A debutant Theunis de Bruyn’s 105 and Farhaan Behardien’s unbeaten 105.

But the most significant stat was that the Titans’ bowlers conceded 22 runs in wides.