An all-round performance from the Dafabet Warriors was too good for the YesPlay Cobras, who kept themselves in the game through two players, before the hosts secured a nervy four-wicket win in their YesPlay T20 Super 8 match at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on Saturday night.
The Warriors bowlers did the hard work up front, after winning the toss and choosing to field, keeping the Cobras to a below-par 130 for eight in their 20 overs, with the visitors only able to reach that total thanks to Daniel Smith’s impressive 67 off 49 balls (8x4; 1x6).
It was a group effort from the host bowlers, with Beuran Hendricks (2-16), Wesley Bedja (2-19) and Kerwin Mungroo (1-19), all in their four-over compliments, impressing the most.
The Warriors' chase was then similar, with several players chipping in as JP King top-scored with an unbeaten 32 off 25 balls (3x4), along with Matthew de Villiers, 28 off 22 (3x4; 1x6), Jordan Hermann, 25 off 12 (3x4; 1x6), and Thomas Kaber, 14no off 12 (1x4; 1x6).
A brilliant career-best 5-20 in his four overs from Cobras youngster Oliver Whitehead kept the visitors in with a shout, but in the end, they didn’t have enough runs to defend.
The Warriors' chase got off to a mixed start as 14 runs came off the first over, but Sibonelo Makhanya (4) edged the last ball from Raeeq Daniels to Mihlali Mpongwana at first slip.
The fourth over from Tshepo Moreki saw Hermann unleash, as he launched a six out of the ground, along with two fours, as 18 came off it, but in the next over, the opener became Whitehead's first victim, after a ball kept low and bowled him, with the score 47 for two, and then 61 for two by the end of the powerplay.
WHITEHEAD'S BRILLIANT BOWLING
After the powerplay, the Warriors kept on scoring, but Whitehead kept taking wickets, as in the seventh, Tristan Stubbs (6) flicked him straight to Mpongwana, and in the ninth, De Villiers launched a free hit for six, but then chased a wide ball and edged behind, with the Warriors 76 for four.
King and Patrick Kruger (13) combined for an important 37-run fifth-wicket stand to take them past 100, but Whitehead returned for his last over in the 13th and claimed a double strike, with Kruger edging behind and Andile Mogakane pinned LBW for a first-ball duck, as they slipped to 103 for six.
King and Kaber then took them home with an unbeaten 30-run partnership, but were unable to get the bonus point as they took three balls too many, getting home in the 17th over.
In the first innings, the Cobras' powerplay completely belonged to the Warriors as Hendricks and Mungroo bowled all six overs and brilliantly kept them in check with the score 17 for three by the end of it.
Some fantastic swing and seam bowling had the visitors in all sorts of trouble, as after just three runs came off the first two overs, at the start of the third, Mungroo got one to nip away from opener Kashief Josephs and take the edge through to keeper De Villiers.
Hendricks then took over with two lovely seam-up deliveries to feather off the edge of Joshua van Heerden (2) and Jiveshan Pillay (5) through to De Villiers, in the fourth and sixth overs, as they slipped to 16 for three.
It didn’t get much better after the powerplay as Valentine Kitime struggled in scoring just three in 10 balls before top-edging Bedja to JP King, with the score 35 for four in the ninth, which became 43 for four by the halfway mark.
But Smith found a willing partner in Whitehead (16), who, despite scoring at less than a run a ball, crucially stuck around, allowing Smith to dominate a 60-run partnership off 44 balls.
Smith reached a 37-ball half-century with two twos and a boundary in the 15th over, but in the next over Whitehead fell, edging Mogakane to De Villiers, who took his fourth catch of the innings, leaving them on 95 for five in the 16th.
It was then a frantic finish to the innings as the Cobras chased runs, while the Warriors continued picking up wickets, with Smith eventually falling, while George Linde, 17 off 11 balls (1x4; 1x6) struck a few lusty blows.