Ken Borland

Mangaliso Mosehle played the innings of his life to set up a straightforward run-chase for the Unlimited Titans and victory over the Sunfoil Dolphins by seven wickets with 19 balls to spare in the RamSlam T20 Challenge final at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Saturday night.

The Titans had sent the Dolphins in to bat and stuck to their basics well as they restricted them to 159 for five in their 20 overs. It was a challenging enough total in a final, but Mosehle blasted 87 off just 39 balls to rush them to their target in only 16.5 overs.

The 25-year-old Mosehle  has always been highly-rated by the Titans, but coach Rob Walter has had to be patient and back the talented Duduza product long after many others have called for him to be dropped. In the nets, Mosehle is one of the cleanest ball-strikers in a team of great batsmen, but, often impetuous, he has struggled to produce innings that really matter.

But he is the sort of batsman who always looks to take the game forward, and on Saturday night he played what could be the defining innings of his career as he slammed six fours and seven sixes to win the final almost single-handedly.

There were enough streaky shots to keep the Dolphins interested, but the skill and talent was abundantly evident as his confidence grew and grew. The highlight of his innings was when he launched a sensational assault on South Africa’s number one T20 spinner, Imran Tahir, hitting the first four balls of the 12th over for six, six, four and six as 28 runs came off the over and all but settled the contest.

“The key for us was to rotate the strike, but after I hit the first one down the ground, it felt good, so I told Henry Davids that I was going to take him on,” was the unassuming Mosehle’s explanation.

By the time Mosehle was out in the 15^th over, caught-and-bowled splicing a hook at Kyle Abbott, the Titans needed just 12 runs off 34 balls; the fat lady had not only sung, she was downing beers somewhere in the heaving, festive capacity crowd that gave the final a tremendous atmosphere.

The experienced Davids, who became just the second batsman after Dolphins captain Morne van Wyk to score 2000 RamSlam T20 Challenge runs, was the ideal foil for Mosehle, finding the gaps to rotate the strike as he scored 35 off 38 balls and shared in a record 123-run second-wicket partnership off just 71 deliveries. The previous record for the Titans was 111 between Gulam Bodi and Heino Kuhn against the Highveld Lions at the Wanderers in 2006/7.

Davids was dismissed, caught behind off Abbott, straight after Mosehle fell, but the Dolphins had all but conceded defeat, the talismanic Kevin Pietersen telling Mosehle that his dismissal had merely delayed his drinking time!

Quinton de Kock (12) was dismissed, caught off a leading edge, off Andile Phehlukwayo’s first ball, but that was the last moment of joy for the Dolphins for an hour as Mosehle launched his withering offensive.

Van Wyk had earlier shot out of the blocks as he opened the batting for the Dolphins, scoring 29 off 24 balls as the visitors reached 47 without loss in the powerplay.

The wicketkeeper/batsman had timed the ball beautifully, collecting two fours and two sixes, but was then caught on the cover boundary off Junior Dala, punished for hitting a shot too well.

Young paceman Lungi Ngidi came on for one over midway through the innings and claimed the massive scalp of Pietersen, caught for 10 as David Wiese took a steepling catch on the midwicket boundary with impressive calm.

Davids then really put the Dolphins on the back foot as he removed opener Jonathan Vandiar (26) with his first delivery, leaving them on 76 for three at the start of the 12h over.

West Indian pro Dwayne Bravo, though, finally made his mark on the Dolphins’ season as he scored 53 off 30 balls, a clever innings full of nifty strokes as well as powerful ones, as he and David Miller (33 off 25) added 83 off 53 deliveries.

Titans captain Albie Morkel once again called on eight bowlers and they all had their moments.

Fast bowler Chris Morris was probably the most impressive, although he did not take a wicket in his four overs that cost 30 runs. Dala, the other fast man, took one for 33, while Wiese, called on to bowl the last two overs from the Hennops River End, ended the innings with the wickets of Miller and Bravo off successive deliveries.

But even if both those balls had been hit for six, it would not have stopped the Titans army from marching on, their ninth victory in 11 RamSlam T20 Challenge matches this season indicating a team that is on top of their game, marrying tremendous personnel with a spot-on tactical approach.

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Albie Morkel produced one of the great innings in a final as his phenomenal unbeaten century took the Unlimited Titans to a five-wicket win with 17 balls to spare over the Nashua Cape Cobras to claim the Momentum One-Day Cup title at Newlands last night.

Morkel finished with an exceptional 134 not out off just 103 balls, making his first List A century when it really counted. The powerful left-hander took his time to get settled, before he and fellow centurion Dean Elgar turned what looked like a procession for the Cobras into a horror defeat.

Richard Levi had scored 104 off 113 balls to lead the Cobras to a commanding 285 for eight after they chose to bat first and there seemed little hope of a Titans win when the visitors slumped to 60 for four in the 15^th over.

But Elgar (100) and Morkel added a magnificent, record-breaking 195 and even though Elgar’s 119-ball innings came to an end when he mistimed a pull off Rory Kleinveldt when 31 runs were still required, Morkel did not stand on ceremony and rushed the Titans home in a blaze of boundaries.

Morkel hit eight fours and seven sixes and seemed to succeed with every stroke he played; not only was he in the zone, but his reading of the match situation was superb and his ability to remain composed under pressure was impressive.

Elgar’s century was his second in succession after his match-winning effort in the playoff and the gritty left-hander has become a master of pacing a limited-overs innings.

Levi and Puttick put on 180 off 198 balls for the Cobras’ first wicket and the home side looked on course for well over 300.

But Tabraiz Shamsi produced a super display of controlled wrist-spin to slow their progress, trapping Levi leg-before as the Cobras scored just 115 runs in the last 20 overs.

Puttick was run out for 69 but there was little intent from the other Cobras’ batsmen before Dane Vilas lifted them to a competitive, if ultimately disappointing total with his 40 off 25 balls.

Kleinveldt and off-spinner Sybrand Engelbrecht dented the Titans’ ambitions with a couple of wickets each, but the brilliance of Morkel and Elgar gradually saw the Cobras’ confidence melt away.

Dean Elgar produced an innings of enormous class as he scored a century to lead the Unlimited Titans into the Momentum One-Day Cup final with a 58-run victory over the Sunfoil Dolphins in the playoff at Kingsmead on Tuesday night.

Elgar came to the crease in the third over with the Titans in trouble on eight for two, and he mastered a poor pitch as he batted through to the final over, scoring a priceless 100 off 130 balls, with eight fours and a six.

The left-hander spent most of the innings just keeping the Dolphins attack at bay, as their attack made use of a deteriorating pitch that not only provided sharp turn, but also grip and uneven bounce for the seamers, but he received tremendous support from David Wiese, the Titans blazing 109 runs in the last 10 overs.

Chasing 268 batting second was always going to be a tall order for the Dolphins, who paid the price for gambling on a pitch that was more suited to the final day of a Test than a limited-overs knockout game.

The Titans, combining aggressive pace bowling with cunning seam and spin, performed brilliantly in the field, bowling the Dolphins out for 209 in the 45^th over.

The Titans had earlier won the toss and elected to bat first, and the nature of the pitch was shown when the Dolphins used spinner Keshav Maharaj to bowl the second over.

The left-armer removed the Titans captain, Henry Davids (2), with his fifth ball, the batsman failing to clear the infield with a lofted drive.

The other opening bowler, Robbie Frylinck, then had Theunis de Bruyn (4) caught in the slips in the next over, bringing Elgar to the crease.

The Dolphins soon suffered a couple of killer blows with all-rounder Ryan McLaren, who passed a fitness test on the morning of the game, re-injuring his hamstring and having to leave the field in his fourth over, and Elgar then being dropped on 18 as an off-balance Cameron Delport put down a relatively straightforward chance at backward point off Andile Phehlukwayo.

Despite a poor fielding effort – four catches went down in all – the Dolphins bowlers were not relaxing the pressure they exerted and Jacques Rudolph and Elgar had to work exceptionally hard to add 78 for the fourth wicket in 19.4 overs.

Batting was not a simple task with the ball seaming, turning sharply, sometimes bouncing, sometimes keeping low and often stopping in the pitch.

Rudolph scored 39 off 69 balls before Maharaj claimed a superb return catch to dismiss him, but Elgar is one of the most determined cricketers in the country and one could almost sense him vowing not to get out before the Titans had a decent total on the board.

Qaasim Adams was trapped lbw for 11 by Maharaj and Albie Morkel (24) was just getting into his stride when he was dismissed by Andile Phehlukwayo during an impressive spell by the 18-year-old.

But Elgar and Wiese then added 92 runs during a match-changing 54-ball spell which saw the Dolphins fielders wilting and the bowlers pitching too full on a wicket which rewarded balls that were banged into the surface.

The powerful Wiese was dropped before he got off the mark by Daryn Smit at slip off the aggressive Phehlukwayo, and the Dolphins paid heavily for that as the all-rounder blasted five fours and five sixes in an explosive 71 not out off just 33 balls.

The late assault rather ruined the figures of Phehlukwayo (10-0-64-1), Maharaj (10-0-50-3) and Frylinck (10-1-45-2), but they were the best of the Dolphins bowlers.

Chasing such a large score batting second was always going to be a daunting task for the Dolphins, but truth be told, they made life harder for themselves through poor shot-selection.

Playing cross-batted shots on a pitch with inconsistent bounce is always risky, and Morne van Wyk (12), Cameron Delport (0), Khaya Zondo (72) and Phehlukwayo (2) were all caught pulling or cutting.

Zondo showed what an exciting talent he is with his wonderful innings of 72 off 87 balls and while he was at the crease, there was still danger for the Titans.

But JP de Villiers is bowling with increasing confidence and good pace these days and he bounced out both Zondo and Phehlukwayo in the batting powerplay and there was little hope for the Dolphins after that.

While De Villiers finished with three for 34 in nine overs, there was an equally impressive return of three for 35 in eight from Junior Dala and Morkel was also very handy, taking three for 33 with his seamers and cutters.

The spin bowling for the Titans was left in the hands of Tabraiz Shamsi and Elgar and they both went for a run-a-ball.

Every chance is precious in a knockout game and Davids took an exceptional one-handed reflex catch at slip, with wicketkeeper Mangaliso Mosehle diving in front of him, to remove the in-form Vaughn van Jaarsveld for 15 off the bowling of Dala.

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An inspired innings by Ben Stokes carried the England Lions to a series-clinching 89-run win over South Africa A in their limited-overs match in Mamelodi on Monday.

The England Lions posted a massive 378 for six after being sent in to bat, with Stokes playing an amazing innings of 151 not out off just 86 deliveries. He came in with the tourists on 123 for three in the 24^th over and built his innings superbly. He was away briskly, reaching his 50 off 46 deliveries, before exploding in the last 10 overs, during which the tourists plundered 153 runs.

Stokes needed just 27 more balls to reach his century and another 13 for his 150 as he lashed nine sixes in the last 15 deliveries he faced, the tourists slamming 83 runs in the last five overs.

The key partnership for the England Lions was the 132 Stokes and Sam Billings (56 off 33) added for the fifth wicket in just 10.4 overs.

The quality of the SA A death bowling was extremely poor and coach Vincent Barnes admitted that he would have loved to have seen more yorkers bowled.

“In terms of death bowling, there seem to be some different trends going on in the country at the moment, but I’m an old school coach and I was quite surprised how few yorkers were used. We were trying far too many different things and with just four fielders allowed to be out, all those different lines and lengths make it very difficult.

“It’s a very under-rated delivery, the neglected art of yorkers, it’s not practised enough because you need to spend hours and hours on it,” Barnes said after the defeat.

Chris Morris was the only SA A bowler to have a reasonable day, taking three for 50 and doing a good job in the closing overs.

Morris then came to the fore again with the bat, lashing 58 not out off 33 balls to provide some late cheer to an SA A innings that never really threatened the English total.

The home side lost Reeza Hendricks (9), Stiaan van Zyl (28) and Theunis de Bruyn (9) cheaply as the required run-rate rose, but Dean Elgar battled along gamely as he scored a fine 79 off 84 balls.

There were sprinklings of boundaries from Justin Ontong (22) and Dane Vilas (29), but they were surely fighting a losing cause.

David Wiese (37) and Morris were briefly threatening, but Stokes then used the yorker to great effect to bowl Wiese and Marchant de Lange (0) in the same over.

Three wickets for Stokes merely added to the celebrations for the controversial omission from England’s World Cup squad, while opening batsman Jason Roy also had cause for happiness, his 67 off 72 balls up front providing an ideal platform for the all-rounder.

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