A patient and highly skillful innings of 123 not out from Dian Forrester helped the Knights reach a respectable total of 247-7 after being asked to bat first by Dafabet Warriors captain, Senuran Muthusamy, in their CSA One-Day Cup match at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.
Rain, however, prevented any further play with the Warriors on 7-1 after five overs and the match was abandoned as a no-result.
The home side slipped to a woeful 56-4 on an unusually slow and two-paced pitch before Forrester joined Patrick Kruger in the 20th over and dominated their fifth-wicket partnership of 132 with a combination of hard running and a resilient defence.
The 24-year-old left hander reached his century from just 97 balls with seven fours and four legside sixes when given the opportunity to attack and added two more fours and a couple more sixes in the final two overs to give the home side a genuinely defendable total.
Forrester’s unbeaten 123 came from only 105 balls with nine fours and six sixes.
Botha’s 58 came from 76 balls with just a single four and two sixes – the pace of the pitch meant short balls ‘sat up’ and were relatively easy to dispatch over the Mangaung Oval’s expansive boundaries.
New-ball bowlers Beyers Swanepoel (2-35) and Siya Plaatjie (2-52) claimed a brace of wickets apiece but the outstanding bowling performance came from offspinner Jason Raubenheimer whose 10 overs included a maiden and earned him 2-27.
The next highest score behind Forrester and Botha was just 21 from a painstaking 45 balls by Lesego Senokwane who was bowled by Muthusamy who strangely bowled only five of his permitted 10 overs.
KNIGHTS: Jacques Snyman, Gihan Cloete (wkt), Lesego Senokwane, Dominic Hendricks, Patrick Botha, Dian Forrester, Tiaan van Vuuren, Aaron Phangiso, Dane Piedt (captain), Malusi Siboto, Johan van Dyk.
WARRIORS: Diego Rosier, Jordan Hermann, JP King, Jean du Plessis (wkt), Sinethemba Qeshile, Senuran Muthusamy (captain), Andile Mogakane, Beyers Swanepoel, Jason Raubenheimer, Junaid Dawood, Siya Plaatjie.