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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Trevor Fisher Junior played consistent precision golf as he motored to victory by five shots in the Africa Open at East London Golf Club on Sunday, shooting a superb eight-under-par 64 in the final round.

The Blue Bulls played like an old man stumbling around without his glasses in the dark as they succumbed to a 23-18 defeat at the hands of Western Province in their Currie Cup semi-final at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

Western Province scored the only two tries of the game and were much more clinical than a Bulls team that piled error upon error and lacked the usual spark and tempo to their game.

The most inexplicable of these errors were the two times right wing Travis Ismaiel gifted the ball to predatory Western Province fullback Cheslin Kolbe, leading to the two tries which gave the visitors the breathing space they needed after the Bulls dominated possession in the opening stages of the second half.

The Bulls were leading 12-9, flyhalf Tian Schoeman having broken the 9-9 halftime deadlock with his fourth penalty, when loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff, who had a big impact on the game, won a turnover deep inside Western Province territory. The visitors predictably counter-attacked and outside centre Johnny Kotze put the grubber through for Kolbe. Ismaiel was chasing back but, seeing fullback Warrick Gelant coming across, he held back, allowing Kolbe to steal the ball with the sublime hands of a pickpocket and race over for the try.

While that may just have been a misunderstanding, the mistake Ismaiel made in the 71^st minute was unforgivable, as was the fact that the Bulls had just lost an attacking lineout five metres from the Western Province line.

Kolbe kicked ahead and caught the sluggish Ismaiel, who was forced to run into touch. But instead of getting rid of the ball, he allowed Kolbe to grab it and throw a quick lineout to flank Sikhumbuzo Notshe, with replacement flyhalf Kurt Coleman then flinging a pass out wide for substitute scrumhalf Jano Vermaak to finish in lots of space.

Ismaiel’s bloopers may have been the most obvious, but there were plenty of villains on the night for the Bulls. Francois Hougaard was hesitant with his service at scrumhalf and often kicked when he shouldn’t have, as well as kicking three balls directly out that cost the home side valuable territory.

Territory was a problem for the Bulls for almost the whole game and their scrums were also wobbly, giving away penalties, but improved when Werner Kruger came on off the bench.

Western Province dominated possession but also made plenty of mistakes in a nervy semi-final. But their greater experience was perhaps the telling factor as they made the hard work of their pack count enough times to win the game.

Flyhalf Robert du Preez added three penalties and a conversion to the tries and Coleman’s solitary conversion.

Scorers

Blue Bulls – Penalties: Tian Schoeman (6).

Western Province – Tries: Cheslin Kolbe, Jano Vermaak. Conversions: Robert du Preez, Kurt Coleman. Penalties: Du Preez (3).

The Eastern Province Kings team played with white armbands in their Currie Cup match against the Blue Bulls in Pretoria over the weekend to support their fellow players and the coaching staff who have not been paid for a month, captain Tim Whitehead revealed after the match.

“We were wearing white armbands because only the 22 who played in this game have been paid and we wanted show our support for the coaching staff and the non-playing members of the squad who haven’t been paid for over a month,” Whitehead announced, unprompted, at the post-match press conference.

The Kings produced a superb first half before ultimately being beaten 48-27 by the Bulls.

The Kings team began the Currie Cup campaign having not been paid for months and went on a mini-strike in August as they had still not received their due money. The crisis continued in September but less than a week ago, the Aveng group were announced as new sponsors of the Kings.

But it is more than two months since EP Rugby president Cheeky Watson announced that the signing of “possibly the biggest sponsorship partnership for any franchise this country has ever seen” was “imminent”.