Jason Smith excelled with bat and ball to lead the Hollywoodbets Dolphins to a clinical six-wicket victory over the ITEC Knights in their CSA T20 Challenge match at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Wednesday night.
Smith, taking the pace off the ball intelligently, claimed 3-22 with his medium-pacers when the Knights batted, restricting them to 155-9 after they looked set to go past the 180-run mark.
Then, with the bat, he struck an unbeaten 65 in 44 balls to guide the Dolphins to victory with nine balls to spare.
Ironically, the Knights excelled in both powerplays – first with the bat, and then with the ball – but lost the match in the middle and late overs in both innings.
The Dolphins got off to a poor start with the bat, with Tshepang Dithole bowled by Johan van Dyk in the opening over and then Jon-Jon Smuts was brilliantly run out by Tiaan van Vuuren after he had just failed to catch Marques Ackerman at short fine-leg.
Undeterred, Van Vuuren grabbed the ball and threw down the wicket as Smuts attempted a single.
Ackerman was joined by Smith and the pair took the score to 50 at the end of the powerplay before Ackerman (28 off 18 balls) skied an attempted hook straight up into the air off paceman Sinethembe Langa for wicketkeeper Gihahn Cloete to take a simple catch.
Bryce Parsons kept Smith good company, scoring 17 at a run-a-ball before being caught behind off Langa.
At 79-4 in the 11th over, the Dolphins still had it all to do to achieve victory.
Slade van Staden joined Smith and the pair ran superbly between the wickets to turn many ones into twos, while also putting the occasional bad ball away for boundaries.
Smith, in particular, was coolness personified as he chose the right balls to hit while Van Staden understood his role perfectly, giving Smith the strike whenever possible.
The pair added an unbroken 79 runs for the fifth wicket and Smith calmly closed out the match with two fours in the 19th over.
The victory, the second in succession after their win over Western Province at the weekend, lifts the Dolphins off the bottom of the table while the Knights, after their outstanding win over the Titans, finished a well beaten side.
DOLPHINS' SPIN BOWLERS SLOW DOWN THE KNIGHTS
Earlier, the Knights, put in to bat by Dolphins’ skipper Prenelan Subrayen, looked set for a big total when a belligerent Jacques Snyman (58 in 37 balls) and Lesego Senokwane put on 69 for the first wicket before the latter was caught in the outfield off Okuhle Cele.
Still, 72-1 in the powerplay was an outstanding start for the home team.
Thereafter, however, the Dolphins’ spin bowlers, Jon-Jon Smuts (0-27 in four overs) and Subrayen (0-21 in four) did well to slow the Knights’ momentum, with Smith claiming the key wicket of Snyman, well caught by Hanu Viljoen at long-off.
Rilee Rossouw, despite being given the perfect platform, was unable to really get going and Smith claimed his wicket too, bowling the left-hander for 20 in 23 balls.
Two run-outs didn’t help the Knights’ cause and with Ackerman superbly patrolling the sweeper boundary and claiming two fine catches, the Knights’ innings ended on a relatively quiet note.
ITEC KNIGHTS: Jacques Snyman, Lesego Senokwane, Rilee Rossouw, Patrick Botha, Aubrey Swanepoel, Gihahn Cloete (wk), Tiaan van Vuuren, Johan van Dyk, Aaron Phangiso (capt), Malusi Siboto, Sithembile Langa
HOLLYWOODBETS DOLPHINS: Tshepang Dithole (wk), Jon-Jon Smuts, Marques Ackerman, Jason Smith, Bryce Parsons, Slade van Staden, Hanu Viljoen, Andile Simelane, Prenelan Subrayen (capt), Ottniel Baartman, Okuhle Cele