Ken Borland

The two teams who have lost just one game in the Sunfoil Series this season – the bizhub Highveld Lions and the Sunfoil Dolphins – clash in a crunch match at the Wanderers from today, but one of the most important games of the tournament will also be played in Port Elizabeth, where the Chevrolet Warriors and the Unlimited Titans meet.

While the log-leading Lions will be desperate to reverse the trend of the other two domestic competitions in which they led at the halfway mark before fainting before the finish line to not even make the finals, the Titans and the Warriors, second and third, are probably the two most in-form teams in the country at the moment.

While the Titans won the Momentum One-Day Cup from a position they had no right to win from, the Warriors have won six of their last seven matches in both the 50-over and four-day competitions.

There will be no Albie Morkel for the Titans at St George’s Park, however, as the hero of the Momentum One-Day Cup final recovers from a side-strain, while Jacques Rudolph, contracted for the one-day competition, will play no further part in the domestic season.

It’s no major issue for the Titans because they will still field a powerful top-order of Dean Elgar, Heino Kuhn and Theunis de Bruyn.

Mangaliso Mosehle will continue to don the wicketkeeper’s gloves despite his messy showing in the final and his poor form with the bat.

“We back Mangi to come good, he had a good start to the four-day competition,” coach Rob Walter told The Citizen yesterday.

The Titans also have plenty of bowling options, including David Wiese and Junior Dala, two players who did so much to ensure the Momentum One-Day Cup is now housed at SuperSport Park.

The final selection is going to be a tough choice for Walter, with wrist-spinners Shaun von Berg and Tabraiz Shamsi, left-arm seamer Rowan Richards, Dala and Ethy Mbhalati all competing for three spots.

Walter said the triumph in the Newlands final had now been put aside and the Titans are hungry for a second trophy.

“We’re certainly not resting on our laurels, although we’ll use that momentum from the One-Day Cup, and we’re very driven to shoot for that second trophy,” the coach said.

The injured trio of pacemen Aya Gqamane and Rusty Theron, as well as senior batsman Davy Jacobs, are not available for the Warriors, but the recent form of Colin Ingram and Michael Price with the bat bodes well for the home side, while Andrew Birch and Simon Harmer will be the key performers with the ball.

The other match sees the Chevrolet Knights hosting the Nashua Cape Cobras, the defending champions, at the Diamond Oval in Kimberley in a match-up between the two bottom sides on the log.

The Cobras are still trying to get over the manner in which they lost the Momentum One-Day Cup final to the Titans, and the four-prong Knights pace attack of Quinton Friend, Corne Dry, Malusi Siboto and Dillon du Preez is sure to increase the pressure on them.

Little went right for the bizhub Highveld Lions as they were hammered by seven wickets with 12 overs to spare by the Chevrolet Knights in their Momentum One-Day Cup match at the Wanderers on Friday night.

Set a mediocre 228 for victory, the Knights had little trouble registering a crucial bonus-point win, reaching 229 for three in 38 overs.

As disciplined and probing as they were with the ball in sunlight, the Knights were ruthless with the bat under floodlights, with Gerhardt Abrahams, Rudi Second and Pite van Biljon all scoring bright half-centuries.

Van Biljon was there at the end with 51 not out off 58 balls, alongside Obus Pienaar (25*), their unbeaten 53-run stand providing the finishing touches to a tremendous victory.

Having produced a terrible batting display in meandering to 227 for nine in their 50 overs, the Lions began awfully with the ball.

Hardus Viljoen, on his return from long-term injury, was here, there and everywhere. He bowled four wides in the first over, which went for 12 runs, and added three more wides and a couple of no-balls in his second.

Pumelela Matshikwe also struggled, conceding 31 runs in his opening spell of four overs, and the Knights were quickly away.

Viljoen managed to get one ball on target in his opening burst, Lefa Mosena edging to second slip to be caught for six, but there was precious little for the Lions to cheer about for the next 17 overs as Abrahams and Second added 107 off 108 balls.

Abrahams, who was brought into the side to replace SA A batsman Reeza Hendricks, was dashing and able to put away the bad delivery as he raced to 62 off 54 balls with 10 fours, before he was bowled by wrist-spinner Eddie Leie attempting a big slog-sweep.

There was no respite for the Lions, however, as Second and Van Biljon continued scoring freely, another 39 runs being added before Second was also bowled by Leie, although he was deceived by a yorker. The wicketkeeper scored a fine 55 off 78 balls, with seven fours.

The scoring slowed down during the partnership between Van Biljon and Pienaar, but the Knights had no reason to rush with the bonus point always well in their sights.

Viljoen returned and was struck for successive boundaries by Van Biljon to end the game, conceding 60 runs in his seven overs, to perhaps suggest he was rushed back into action too early.

Leie tried enthusiastically to get the Lions back in the game, taking two for 48 in nine overs, while Kagiso Rabada was tidy, conceding just 37 runs in his nine overs.

The five points for the win lifts the Knights back into contention on 13 points in fifth place, now just two behind the Lions.

The Highveld Lions never got out of first gear before falling away badly in the middle overs, and, on the same pitch on which South Africa scored billions of runs just two weeks ago, they could never get close to a run-a-ball, despite a solid platform laid by the top three.

The Knights won the toss and gave the Lions batsmen first use of a bare, bouncy pitch and openers Stephen Cook and Rassie van der Dussen gave the home side an ideal start by bringing up their fifty partnership off 66 balls.

A shifting of gears was required but Cook (34 off 39, 5×4) tried to pull a delivery from fast bowler Quinton Friend and, cramped for time and space, he could only dolly a simple catch to midwicket.

Alviro Petersen came in and looked top-class as he cruised to 39 off 51 balls, with five fours, before paceman Dillon du Preez held on to a sharp return catch.

The Lions were still in a strong position on 124 for two after 28 overs, but a dramatic middle-order collapse then ensued as they slumped to 162 for seven in the 41^st over.

Van der Dussen’s 57 off 90 balls was a passable effort in terms of building a foundation, but he needed to go on and anchor the innings. Instead he became one of three wickets to fall in four deliveries as he drove outside off stump and was caught behind off Shadley van Schalkwyk.

Temba Bavuma (3), caught trying to pull Du Preez, Neil McKenzie (15), top-edging a sweep off Werner Coetsee, and Dwaine Pretorius, caught behind for a duck off Van Schalkwyk as he wafted outside off stump, all made little impression.

Viljoen was brilliantly caught by a diving Michael Erlank in the covers for 10 off Du Preez.

Thami Tsolekile (34) and Rabada (22) did at least add 49 off 45 balls for the eighth wicket to give the Lions something to bowl at, but the probing Knights bowlers remained in control throughout the innings.

Du Preez was outstanding with four for 34 in 10 overs – yes, he even bowled yorkers regularly at the death – while Van Schalkwyk (10-2-43-2) and Friend (10-1-45-1) could also be happy with their contributions.

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AB de Villiers slamming six after six at the Wanderers and the peaceful surrounds of the Kruger National Park may not have much in common, but seeing as though I was at the Bullring last weekend and I am now in South Africa’s corner of paradise up north, I’m going to link them anyway.

I say the peaceful surrounds of Kruger because it certainly brings a wonderful feeling of wellbeing and there is a sense of the universe being in harmony as you watch the swallows cruising in the sky and zebra and elephant feeding contentedly.

Of course, as children we have this idyllic image of nature, but the truth is that there is a battle for survival going on in the great outdoors every moment, and it’s generally a case of eat or be eaten.

Watching this great show unfold on the plains north of Punda Maria, I was reminded of De Villiers, cricket tragic that I am.

It’s been many years – probably back to 2005/06 when Herschelle Gibbs annihilated the Australians at the same venue – since I have seen an innings at international level in which a batsman so ruthlessly dominated the opposition bowlers.

Much like the peaceful façade going on in Kruger Park, De Villiers made batting look like child’s play on the surface. He seemed to be toying with the bowlers: If he wanted to score on the leg-side, he was able to even if they bowled a metre outside off stump; if he wanted to score on the off-side, there was precious little the West Indians could do about it; on any length, De Villiers was able to hit straight back down the ground.

It may have looked easy, but it most certainly isn’t; it took hours and hours of work in the nets and mastering the mental side of the game, plus an extraordinary talent switched on to close to full power for that innings to happen.

International sport relies on the competition being fierce; these are the top athletes in their chosen sports competing with each other and there needs to be the thrill of the hunt.

Mixed in with the feelings of awe at watching De Villiers bat were pangs of regret that he was making batting look as easy as a hit-about on the beach.

But the fact that De Villiers was so utterly dominant should not detract from his innings – that is his genius, to create another level for himself above the ‘mediocrity’ of international sport. To find or clear the boundary 25 times from 44 balls is an almost super-human feat, but by his own admission, De Villiers has not yet fully explored his talent – there were a handful of dot balls (oh, the horror!) in his innings and some of his fours would have been sixes if they had come entirely out of the meat of the bat.

I was wearing a Proteas shirt driving up to Kruger Park the day after the Wanderers ODI and received several very positive comments from locals living in rural Limpopo which suggests Cricket South Africa, after some acrimonious years of discontent, are doing a great job in spreading the game.

It helps, of course, to have young men like De Villiers providing such incredible entertainment.

AB de Villiers batted as if he had a prior engagement in blazing his way to the fastest ODI century ever at the Wanderers on Sunday, and then said it was just one of those days when everything clicked.

De Villiers smashed 149 off 44 balls, reaching three figures off just 31 deliveries, in the most outrageous innings every played in ODI cricket, but it did ring true when he said it had not been his best ball-striking day.

“I have hit the ball better before, believe it or not, but it was just one of those exceptional days when you get a couple out of the middle of the bat and then everything just clicks. Today it just happened for me.

“On this ground, if you’re in decent form, you swing hard and have a bit of luck, then amazing things can happen and it’s very difficult to stop you, like Ricky Ponting and Herschelle Gibbs have shown in the past,” De Villiers said.

It was a top-class display of innovation and imagination from De Villiers, who fashioned 25 boundaries – nine fours and 16 sixes – from the 44 balls he faced, often playing strokes that bordered on the impossible.

“In today’s cricket you have to read the game and most batsmen do premeditate what they’re going to do. You can’t just let the bowlers bowl at you, you have to put them under pressure, so there were definitely quite a few premeditated shots by me today,” De Villiers admitted, making his superhuman efforts sound almost mundane.

It sounded even more corny when De Villiers said he had practically begged coach Russell Domingo to let David Miller go in ahead of him because he felt the left-hander could have added “even more fuel” to the brilliant opening stand of 247 in 38.3 overs between Hashim Amla and Rilee Rossouw.

While never considering themselves dead certs for the World Cup, De Villiers said Sunday’s overwhelming victory over the West Indies was a step in the right direction for the team as they look to go to Australasia believing they are the best team there.

“There’s no doubt a performance like this is a tremendous help for the confidence, which is 80 to 90% of sport. I believe we’re getting better, getting confidence is what this series is all about, and we want to go to the World Cup believing we are the best. No team has ever won the World Cup not thinking they’re the best team in the tournament,” South Africa’s ODI captain said.

Denesh Ramdin has been around the international circuit for nearly 10 years and he described De Villiers’ knock as one of the best he had ever seen; the rookie Rossouw said the number one ranked ODI batsman was playing the game at a different level to everyone else.

“I was just speechless watching AB, it was out of this world. He’s a freak, on a level of his own. It’s just not right scoring a hundred off 31 balls!

“Those who didn’t watch the innings really missed out because seeing is believing,” Rossouw said of his skipper’s extraordinary exploits.