Paarl: A match that will certainly not be remembered as a classic, but the Cape Cobras came to Boland Park and ensured they sent their main rivals, the Highveld Lions, back to Gauteng with their tails between their legs.
The Cobras, though, would be the first to admit that they received significant help from a listless Lions team on the day.
Geoff Toyana’s side was simply dismal in the field, shelling catches almost at will – as if the white ball was a hot piece of coal – with nobody wanting to hold on to it long enough to effect a dismissal.
It was so bad that Cobras opener Andrew Puttick was dropped on five occasions during his innings, with Neil McKenzie being the culprit three times. With the fielders not wanting to do their bit, the bowlers lost their motivation too, with the bowling unit delivering a despicable 27 wides yesterday.
With such freedom being provided, the Cobras batsmen were bound to fill their boots and it was actually disappointing that nobody was able to register a three-figure score. Two batsmen came close, with Puttick and Stiaan van Zyl getting into the 90s, with Van Zyl only falling short due to the overs coming to a close.
Those two innings were, however, not the highlight of the day for the Boland Park faithful. Cobras captain Justin Ontong has been entertaining his Paarl home crowd since he was a schoolboy, but he really treated his fans yesterday to a pyrotechnics show of the highest calibre.
The Cobras were well placed after Puttick and Omphile Ramela put on 101 for the first wicket, but the innings needed a bit of impetus if the home side were truly going to capitalise on the Lions’ generosity.
And the skipper was certainly in a belligerent mood, smashing 83 runs off just 38 balls as he significantly boosted the Cobras’ run-rate to take them comfortably over the 300-run mark. His partnership with Van Zyl was thrilling cricket, with Ontong especially taking a liking to new Proteas rookie Kagiso Rabada.
Having started his first-class cricket career when Rabada (0/88) was still in diapers, the 35-year-old Ontong was in a mood to hand out a few lessons as he smashed seven sixes and another four boundaries during his innings. The Cobras’ third-wicket partnership yielded 154 runs off just 75 balls.
Rabada will certainly be a better bowler for the experience and will hopefully have realised that his lines and lengths will need to be a lot tighter and more accurate at this level, and higher, especially during the powerplay overs.
After the indifferent bowling display, Toyana would have had to really shake up his dressingroom for his batsmen to make an impact, although Lions opening pair Alviro Petersen (49) and Stephen Cook provided their team with a start that could at least have brought some relief to the visitors.
However, their 97-run stand was not sufficient, especially when Cobras spin twins SA Engelbrecht and Robin Peterson made maximum use of a surface that slowed under the intense Boland sun as the day progressed. The pair claimed four wickets between them to stifle the Lions’ challenge, and despite some lower-order bashing from Dwayne Pretorius and Hardus Viljoen, the Cobras were never in danger of losing their grip on this match.
Their fielding standard also dropped a bit in the latter stages, but that was due to the intensity levels dropping once the result had basically been decided, with the Lions reeling at 162/6.
The victory entrenches the Cobras’ position at the top of the 1-Day Cup log and they can now head to Newlands (against the Knights) on Wednesday with good momentum.
“We played the Warriors on Friday and now the Lions, and to win both games is very pleasing for us. With the fixtures so close together, it is important to get on a bit of a run as it creates momentum, and hopefully we can put in another good peformance,” Cobras coach Paul Adams said last night.
Cape Cobras337/3 (Puttick 94, Van Zyl 91 not out, Ontong 83)
Highveld Lions284/7 (Pretorius 77 not out, Cook 58; R Peterson 2/30)
Cobras won by 53 runs - Cape Times