Dane Piedt and Kyle Simmonds took all ten wickets in the second innings, for the BuildNat Cape Cobras to thrash the VKB Knights by 151 runs on the third afternoon of their Sunfoil Series match in Paarl on Saturday.
It’s been an incredible turnaround since Ashwell Prince took over from Paul Adams as head coach. They’ve now won three of their last four matches, and they’ve remarkably given themselves a chance of winning the Sunfoil Series title going into the final round of matches.
It was a tough blow for the Knights, who need to beat the Lions in their last game to stand a chance, while the Cobras will give themselves every opportunity if they can beat the Dolphins.
It was an impressive turnaround from the Cape-based outfit, who were bowled out for 154 in their first innings thanks to four-wicket hauls from Shadley van Schalkwyk and Duanne Olivier. But then the Cobras steamrolled the Knights for 153, bringing them right back into it.
An excellent century from Stiaan van Zyl (106) and a useful 62 from Dane Vilas guided the Cobras to 330, handing the Knights 332 for victory.
The Knights went into the second session of the third day in Paarl on 63-2, ensuring that it was anyone’s game to play for, but the spinners made light of work of it from there.
The crucial wicket was undoubtedly that of Theunis de Bruyn, who fell on the stroke of lunch. Simmonds, on franchise debut, was the man to get him for 12, before accounting for Pite van Biljon for a duck three balls after lunch.
Luthando Mnyanda provided some resilience with 57, but when the 50-run stand ended between him and Rudi Second, it became the Cobras’ match to lose.
Piedt would be the man to get Mnyanda, and the skipper dominated from there, taking four more wickets to finish with figures of 6-87. Simmonds backed up his three wickets from the first innings to bag 4-56 in the second, capping off an excellent debut for the youngster.
Piedt wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Van Schalkwyk for 31, leaving the Knights 151 runs short, concluding a brilliant comeback display from the Cobras.
Article source: SuperSport
