Rilee Rossouw smashed 73 in 46 balls while skipper Pite van Biljon blitzed an unbeaten 30 off just 10 balls to lead the Itec Knights to a bonus-point victory over the Gbets Warriors in their CSA One-Day Cup match at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on Wednesday night.
The super-aggressive Rossouw is always a potential match-winner for his team although he tends to give the bowlers a chance.
This time he didn’t as he struck eight fours and two sixes in his innings with his team chasing 265 for victory.
When Rossouw departed in the 38th over with the total on 232, skying a slog-sweep straight up into the air, Van Biljon wasted no time clinching the bonus point.
Facing the bowling of Mthiwekhaya Nabe, Van Biljon smoked his first ball for a huge six over long-on before cracking the next for four square on the off side.
Another 17 came off Jon-Jon Smuts’s next over before Van Biljon finished off the chase with a boundary off the third ball of Nabe’s next over, the 40th.
A bonus-point win was essential for the Knights and they will have to do something similar in their final match against the Hollywoodbets Dolphins on Sunday – and hope that other results go their way – if they hope to earn the right to play the likely finalists, the Momentum Multiply Titans, in next week’s final.
Overall, the Knights’ run chase was perfectly calculated with Jacques Snyman striking 56 in 60 balls up front while Raynard van Tonder (66 not out in 90 balls) knitted the innings together while Rossouw and Van Biljon blasted away at the other end.
The 36th over from Dane Paterson signalled the Knights’ final assault as Rossouw crashed the first ball through cover, reaching his 50 in 41 balls, before plundering a further two fours and two sixes (25 runs in all) off the hapless seamer.
MOTHOA AND PRETORIUS STAR WITH THE BALL
Earlier, Smuts struck his eighth List A hundred to guide the Warriors to 264 for nine after the Knights had won the toss and put the home team in to bat.
The chief wicket-takers for the Knights were pacemen Alfie Mothoa with 4-45 – including two in the final over – and Migael Pretorius with 3-47.
Smuts, who came to the crease in the first over when Matthew Breetzke was trapped leg before by Pretorius to the fifth ball of the innings, batted through to the 46th before being caught by Raynard van Tonder off the bowling of Pretorius for 135 (12x4s, 3x6s).
The 33-year-old allrounder from Makhanda (Grahamstown) shared partnerships of 56 for the second wicket with Wihan Lubbe (32), 46 for the third wicket with Rudi Second, 77 for the fourth wicket with Tristan Stubbs (35) and 69 for the sixth wicket with Lesiba Ngoepe (26).
GBETS WARRIORS:Matthew Breetzke, Wihan Lubbe, JJ Smuts, Rudi Second (capt), Tristan Stubbs, Sinethemba Qeshile (wk), Lesiba Ngoepe, Dane Paterson, Mthiwekhaya Nabe, Tsepo Ndwandwa, Akhona Mnyaka
ITEC KNIGHTS:Matthew Kleinveldt, Jacques Snyman, Raynard van Tonder, Rilee Rossouw, Pite van Biljon (capt), Patrick Kruger, Mangaliso Mosehle (wk), Romano Terblanche, Migael Pretorius, Alfred Mothoa, Mbulelo Budaza