Ken Borland

Migael Pretorius was chosen for the Proteas squad as a fast bowler but on Monday he snatched an extraordinary last-over win for his Knights team with the bat in their T20 Challenge match against the Cape Cobras at Kingsmead.

Pretorius, coming in at No.8, was facing Ziyaad Abrahams with a virtually insurmountable 16 runs needed off the last three balls.

The 25-year-old heaved the next two deliveries over the leg-side boundary for sixes, leaving four runs to get off the last ball and keep his team’s hopes of a playoff berth alive.

Abrahams delivered a superb yorker just outside leg-stump which Pretorius missed, but the bowler had astonishingly overstepped, gifting a no-ball extra as well as a free hit.

Abrahams again fired a full ball into the pads, but Pretorius did exceedingly well to dig it out with sufficient timing to beat the despairing dive of George Linde on the midwicket boundary.

The Knights had been chasing 168, the highest total of the competition so far, and Raynard van Tonder (42 off 40) and captain Pite van Biljon (29 off 25) had laid a solid foundation and given them a chance.

Left-arm spinners Linde (4-0-20-1) and Siyabonga Mahima (4-0-31-2) were once again the Cobras’ most effective bowlers.

The Cobras, having won the toss and elected to bat, came out with a more attacking approach with Zubayr Hamza finally getting the opportunity to spend a prolonged time at the crease and show his quality with a commanding 77 not out off 49 balls in a welcome return to form.

Kyle Verreynne was also at his attacking best as he scored 45 off 31 deliveries.

Seamer Alfred Mothoa took two wickets at the death to finish with two for 32, but leg-spinner Shaun von Berg was the pick of the Knights bowlers.

Constantly at the batsmen, he took two for 23 in four excellent overs.

Proteas stars Rassie van der Dussen and Temba Bavuma have always had one of the more calming relationships at the crease and their partnership did the bulk of the work as the Imperial Lions beat the Warriors by four wickets in their opening T20 Challenge match at Kingsmead on Saturday.

Coming together on a troubled 19 for two, Van der Dussen belted four sixes as he scored 64 off 41 balls, while Bavuma cruised to 40 off 35 deliveries as they added 64 for the third wicket to put the Lions well on course for their target of 158.

Seamer Aya Gqamane split the pair but Van der Dussen then added another 58 runs with Delano Potgieter (17).

Gqamane (3-0-20-3) dismissed both of them in the 17^th over  as the Lions eventually wobbled to victory with four balls remaining.

The dominant Lions attack bowled the Warriors out for 157 with Kagiso Rabada simply at another level as he took three for 23 in his four superb overs.

Fellow Proteas Bjorn Fortuin (4-0-18-1) and Dwaine Pretorius (4-0-23-1) were also outstanding, but the Warriors, led by captain Sinethemba Qeshile’s 33 off 28 balls, fought manfully to post a competitive total.

Sisanda Magala ripped through the tail to claim four for 37 and ensure that the Lions would not need to chase more than 8 an over.

Dwaine Pretorius was obviously the star of the show as South Africa levelled the T20 series against Pakistan on Saturday with the best figures in the history of Proteas T20 cricket, but the all-rounder said the efforts of spin bowlers Tabraiz Shamsi and Jon-Jon Smuts in the middle overs of the innings were as worthy of reward as his incredible return of five for 17.

Pretorius broke the record for best T20 figures for South Africa, previously held by Ryan McLaren, who took five for 19 against the West Indies at North Sound. He bowled the second over of the innings, trapping Pakistan kingpin Babar Azam lbw with his second ball and then returned in the 14^th over of the innings to remove top-scorer Mohammad Rizwan for 51 and claiming three other wickets in the closing stages of the innings.

But before his second spell, wrist-spinner Shamsi bowled brilliantly in the middle overs to take one for 16 in his four overs, while Smuts conceded just 20 runs in his four overs of canny left-arm orthodox.

“That was next-level bowing by Shamo and Jon-Jon and they could easily have taken the wickets instead of me. That’s why I say it was a collective effort by the attack and the two spinners tightened the noose superbly. And Heinrich Klaasen captained the team really well, changing the bowlers around a lot so no-one could get settled on the batting side.

“So the spinners did superbly and the other seamers also executed the plan really well, and I just tried to stick to my plan. Sometimes in T20, the simpler the better and I just tried to keep my plans simple, although I have learnt, especially from bowing coach Charl Langeveldt, that it’s vital that the batsman doesn’t know which ball is coming, you also don’t want the batsman to settle into facing one thing,” Pretorius said after the six-wicket win.

Pretorius also praised the batsmen, especially Reeza Hendricks and Pite van Biljon, who both scored 42 and played the spinners aggressively, showing that even a daunting leg-spinner like Usman Qadir is only human as he faltered under pressure, conceding 43 runs in his four overs.

“The batsmen have actually played a lot of good cricket lately, but then it’s just been one or two overs that we lose really badly. As a batting unit, they’ve tried to focus on making sure that when you hit a bad patch, you don’t lose a cluster of wickets. They’re trying to keep their intensity high and they did that unbelievably well today. It’s about the big moments and we played those better tonight,” Pretorius said.

Dwaine Pretorius produced the best ever figures by a South African in T20 Internationals as the Proteas levelled the series against Pakistan with a six-wicket triumph in the second match in Lahore on Saturday.

Medium-pacer Pretorius wrecked the Pakistan innings, especially in the closing stages, as he claimed fabulous figures of five for 17 to restrict the home side to 144 for seven.

The Proteas then chased down that target with 22 balls to spare, the innings being built around the partnership of 77 for the third wicket between Reeza Hendricks and Pite van Biljon, who both scored 42.

Pretorius opened the bowing with the left-arm spinner Jon-Jon Smuts and struck with the second ball he bowled, trapping Babar Azam, the Pakistan captain and kingpin, lbw for 5 as he nipped the ball back into the right-hander.

Mohammad Rizwan was once again the mainstay of the Pakistan batting, but the superb spin bowling of Tabraiz Shamsi (4-0-16-1) and Smuts (4-0-20-0) kept the home side quite in the middle overs.

The pressure told as Pretorius returned in the 14^th over to dismiss Iftikhar Ahmed (20) and end the most threatening partnership of the Pakistan innings – 45 in 7.2 overs – David Miller taking an excellent steepling catch as the ball descended out of the foggy skies.

The all-rounder then claimed the big scalp of Rizwan in his next over, the in-form wicketkeeper mishitting a slower ball to be caught by long-off for 51 off 41 balls.

Pretorius then claimed the wickets of Khushdil Shah (15) and Mohammad Nawaz for a duck in the penultimate over, with only the big hitting of Faheem Ashraf (30 not out off 12 balls) getting the hosts to a vaguely competitive total.

Pretorius claimed the fifth five-wicket haul for South Africa in T20 Internationals and his figures improved on the previous best performance of five for 19 by Ryan McLaren against the West Indies at North Sound in 2010. It was also the best ever display against Pakistan.

After their heroics in the field, South Africa did not take the gentle approach to chasing down their moderate target, although left-arm quick Shaheen Shah Afridi rocked them by removing Janneman Malan (4) and Smuts (7) in his first two overs.

But Hendricks and Van Biljon showed their experience by showing selective aggression. What was most impressive though was the intent they showed against the spinners.

Especially leg-spinner Usman Qadir, who dominated in the first T20 but was shaken from his cradle immediately on Saturday, as both batsmen hit him for sixes in his first over.

Qadir returned to dismiss Hendricks in the 12^th over, but the opener’s 42 off 30 balls had already set South Africa well on the way to victory.

Even with Van Biljon falling in the next over to spinner Nawaz for 42 off 32 deliveries, the experienced pairing of Miller (25* off 19) and captain Heinrich Klaasen (17* off 9) guided the Proteas home.

The deciding third match of the series will take place on Sunday in Lahore as well.