Ken Borland

Domestic four-day cricket seldom receives the attention it should, but Unlimited Titans coach Rob Walter said yesterday that their thrilling 32-run weekend victory over the Knights in their Sunfoil Series match at SuperSport Park was “the way cricket should be played”.

The Knights mounted a stirring run-chase on a great final day as they tried to chase down 435 and were on target as Gihahn Cloete and Rilee Rossouw blazed hundreds.

After 70 overs, the Knights looked as if they were cruising to victory on 287 for one, needing 148 runs off 36 overs with Cloete and Rossouw in full flight. But JP de Villiers removed both set batsmen and the second new ball then produced a remarkable collapse of six wickets for 18 runs in eight overs in the hands of David Wiese and Marchant de Lange.

A last-wicket stand of 43 between Malusi Siboto and Corne Dry revitalised the Knights before Wiese claimed the final wicket and a famous win at 5.25pm.

“That’s the way cricket should be played. We set up the game with the second new ball very much in mind, leaving us enough overs with it to make an impact, but I never thought it would have to make so much of an impact!

“I’m very excited by the win because it means a helluva lot, it speaks volumes for the culture within the team. We don’t have much to play for in terms of the competition, but we didn’t want to just rock up and play without any care.

“We showed great care and pride in our performance and, if the scoreboard had been switched off, someone watching would never have thought the score was 300 for two. There were a few overs when they really bossed us, but the intensity was amazing and awesome to see,” Walter told The Pretoria News yesterday.

While chasing 435 would normally be one of those flights of fancy that seldom occur in real life, conditions and the brilliance of Cloete and Rossouw had the Knights well on course.

“The pitch was very flat on the fourth day and never offered much of anything. Plus for [leg-spinner] Shaun von Berg to bowl to two left-handers like Cloete and Rossouw was tough. If two batsmen get in those conditions, then chasing six an over is quite easy, it’s very difficult to defend, especially with a short boundary at one end,” Walter explained.

De Lange was like Hagar The Horrible with the new ball, obtaining spiteful, awkward bounce at high pace and Walter said he was delighted the fast bowler was able to make such an impact in his first game for the Titans since November.

“I’m really happy for Marchant’s sake because it’s a reward for a lot of patience and hard work. He really wanted to play earlier, but he had to buy into the process. It’s not just about being physically fit, he had to earn his place. And it’s really exciting that he managed to produce that pace at 4.30pm on the last day of a four-day match,” Walter said.

Cloete received the man of the match award for his maiden century in the Sunfoil Series, but the honour should surely have gone to Wiese, who made important contributions of 45 and 31 not out with the bat and had match figures of six for 93 with the ball. He removed both openers in the Knights first innings, paving the way for their dismissal for just 218 and then claimed four for 18 with the second new ball in the dramatic finale.

“David is really starting to find his feet with the new ball, he’s got seriously good skill with it and can swing it both ways, as well as containing nicely too. His wickets with the new ball and his contributions with the bat at number seven make him a real all-rounder who provides such stability. We can rely on him,” Walter said.

Judging by the spirit shown this weekend, Titans fans can rely on their team going all out to end the season on a high with victory over the Warriors in their final match starting at Centurion on Thursday.

“It’ll be nice to win because three wins will be a 300% improvement on last season. We want to maintain the momentum of what we did this weekend,” Walter said.

It took the Unlimited Titans until 5.25pm on the final day but they eventually sealed a thrilling 32-run victory over the Knights in their Sunfoil Series match at SuperSport Park in Centurion yesterday.

A lunchtime rain shower, an extraordinary partnership by centurions Gihahn Cloete and Rilee Rossouw, and a plucky last-wicket stand all caused delays, but it was ultimately the second new ball in the hands of David Wiese (four for 55) and Marchant de Lange (three for 72) that won the day for the Titans.

Much credit, however, must go to the Knights. They were eventually bowled out for 402 to record the highest ever fourth-innings total in four-day franchise cricket.

While Cloete and Rossouw were adding 209 for the second wicket in just three hours, it seemed as if the Knights would storm to their unlikely target of 435. But in the midst of a thorough caning on a pitch that had flattened out beautifully for batting, paceman JP de Villiers made two vital breakthroughs either side of tea to remove Rossouw for 127 and Cloete for 129.

It allowed De Lange and Wiese to take the second new ball against new batsmen and they responded with a devastating burst of six wickets in nine overs to bring a Titans victory back into the equation.

Rossouw had earlier played a great innings to make a highly unlikely Knights victory the odds-on favourite. Given a wonderful platform by openers Cloete and Reeza Hendricks (46), who added 89 for the first wicket, he bludgeoned a 108-ball century which included five sixes.

Another of the new generation of batsmen pushing for international recognition, he has now passed 50 five times this season in scoring 621 runs at an average of 47.76.

Cloete has no international aspirations at the moment as he just tries to keep his place in the Knights team, and his wonderful innings was not only his best this season, beating a lowly 33, but a career-best.

But even given the total dominance they showed, chasing 435 on the final day remains one of those flights of fancy that is extremely rarely attained, even though the game today is so biased towards batsmen.

The skiddy De Villiers had Rossouw caught slicing a lofted drive over the covers and then bowled Cloete as he tried to pull a delivery that was too full.

De Lange struck with his fourth delivery with the second new ball as Rudi Second (11) mistimed a pull to square-leg and the fast bowler removed Obus Pienaar (6) in his next over with a brutish lifter that was well-claimed by Qaasim Adams running back from point.

Wiese then got in on the act as he had Gerhardt Abrahams (5) caught behind and then removed Johan van der Wath (0) and Quinton Friend (6) in the space of three balls.

The key scalp of the experienced Werner Coetsee (4) fell to the fired-up De Lange, the batsman unable to deal with another sharp lifter, and the Titans looked sure winners with the Knights 359 for nine.

But the spellbinding game took another turn as the last-wicket pair of Malusi Siboto (26*) and Corne Dry (19), both of whom clearly know how to wield the bat, belted 43 runs off the next 6.4 overs.

The end finally came as the impressive Wiese bowled the perfect ball, back-of-a-length with bounce and some away movement, and found the edge of Dry’s bat for a regulation caught behind and the Titans’ second victory of the campaign.

The narrow defeat is particularly hard on the valiant Knights, who now go into the final weekend of matches 19 points behind the Cape Cobras and clinging to the slimmest of hopes of taking the title off the defending champions.

The Regent Boland Cavaliers played some thrilling rugby as they thrashed the Valke 79-26 (half-time 34-19) in their Absa Currie Cup First Division match in Worcester on Saturday.

With the country’s head coach, Heyneke Meyer, in attendance for the Springbok squad announcement after the game, the Cavaliers used their backline to great effect, strolling through for 12 tries. It has to be admitted, however, that they were up against an exceptionally naive Valke defence.

Boland also used the rolling maul superbly to score four of their tries, two of them going to captain and flank Franzel September.

Impressive outside centre Senan van der Merwe pounced on a dropped pass to turn the opening three minutes of Valke pressure into counter-attack and a try to eighthman Zandre’ Jordaan in the corner.

September scored his first from a rolling maul in the seventh minute, with flyhalf Elgar Watts, who did much to spark his backline, adding the conversion and a penalty to stretch the lead to 15-0 after just 10 minutes.

The flags had barely gone down from that kick when hooker and man of the match Ashton Constant went on a bullocking run and then produced a lovely pop-pass inside for Watts to score and convert his own try (22-0).

Two tries provided some salve for the Valke, powerful centre Jaco Oosthuizen cutting back through some poor defending to score and prop Nico Pretorius going over from close range, but the visitors still could not solve their defensive problems and the Cavaliers scored two more tries before the break to keep the Gautengers at bay.

September used the rolling maul to grab his second, before fullback Eric Zana burst through, finding good support from flank Junior Bester, who passed back inside to scrumhalf Neil Papier, who dashed over.

Wing Cornal Hendricks, a constant threat, sped away to score to give Boland the ideal start to the second half and more faulty defending by the Valke allowed Papier to roar over for his second try after a half-break by Watts.

The Cavaliers were really starting to pull away with a 48-19 lead just six minutes into the second half and the half-century was up after 58 minutes as the home team were disallowed a try, but then won the ball from the Valke’s scrum feed, Hendricks wrong-footing the defence with ridiculous ease to score his second try.

The Valke were better with ball in hand and replacement wing JC Greyling scored their bonus-point try on the hour, after centre Willie Odendaal had broken straight through some poor midfield defence.

The Eastern Gautengers soon infringed, however, and replacement hooker Madoda Yoka picked up the ball from a ruck after the rolling maul from the penalty and dotted down.

The Valke were near-exhausted by then and the Cavaliers scored three more tries in the closing stages – wing Brendon April grabbing two and lock PJ van Zyl the other.

SCORERS

Regent Boland Cavaliers – Tries: Zandre’ Jordaan, Franzel September (2), Elgar Watts, Neil Papier (2), Cornal Hendricks (2), Madoda Yoka, Brendon April (2), PJ van Zyl. Conversions: Watts (5), Ricardo Croy (3). Penalty: Watts.

Valke – Tries: Jaco Oosthuizen (2), Nico Pretorius, JC Greyling. Conversions: Karlo Aspeling (2), Juan Kotze.

http://www.supersport.com/rugby/currie-cup-first-division/news/120804/Cavaliers_romp_to_thrilling_win