Beuran Hendricks took five for 31, riding on Dane Vilas’ batting wave, to help the Cobras beat the Titans by 113 runs in their Momentum One Day Cup in Benoni on Friday night.
The Cape side consolidated their lead at the top of the log thanks to the aggressive stand by Vilas and Justin Ontong, after a rain delay, which took the Cobras to 237-5 in 42 overs.
That interruption gave the Titans a revised target of 247 off 42 overs, but Hendricks made his presence felt by removing Henry Davids in the first over and Theunis de Bruyn (14) in the seventh, reducing the Titans to 25-2. He had excellent support from Tshepo Moreki, who broke the back of the top order, taking 2-16 in his first four overs and ending with 3-26 off seven.
With Hendricks blasting away to end with 5-31 of 7.4 overs, the Titans were never able to mount a challenge, being bowled out for 133. Only Graeme van Buuren resisted long enough to score 40 off 36 balls, while no other batsman was able to get above 14.Vilas’s fighting 42 off 23 balls was the spearhead of the Cobras formidable offering. He and Ontong (65 off 53) put on 69 in six overs at a run-rate of 11.5 for the fifth wicket.
And when Ontong departed, Vilas took 12 runs off Junior Dala’s last over
Rain came down when the Cobras were 83-1 after the 22nd over, and for a while it looked as if the innings would falter, especially after Stiaan van Zyl fell for 28 shortly after play restarted and Omphile Ramela was caught and bowled by the impressive Dala just after reaching his fifty after 34 overs.
They had eight overs remaining due to the rain, and Vilas and Ontong made them count.
