Johannesburg - The Central Knights and Northern Titans triumphed convincingly on Sunday to occupy the top places on the South Africa Twenty20 Challenge standings.
Opener Morne van Wyk struck an unbeaten 70 as Knights walloped previously unbeaten Highveld Lions by eight wickets in central city Bloemfontein to take a three-point lead after five rounds.
Quinton de Kock (48) and Neil McKenzie (45) did best with the bat for Lions as they made 131-5 while Rilee Rossouw (39) lent valuable support to Van Wyk as Knights reached 135-2 with 27 balls remaining.
Titans are three points behind Knights having played a match less after a nine-wicket thrashing of newcomers The New Age Impi in Benoni.
Englishmen Luke Wright and Paul Collingwood contributed 28 runs each to an Impi total of 131 and Titans soared to 137-1 with 26
balls left as Henry Davids (55) and Jacques Rudolph (47) punished mediocre bowling.
Pre-championship favourites Western Cape Cobras suffered a second loss within three days, going down by three runs at home after reaching 163-6 in reply to 166-5 by Coastal Dolphins.
Richard Levi, who scored the fastest T20 international ton last Sunday for South Africa in New Zealand, hit 19 for the Cobras off 13 balls after being out for just three against the Lions two days ago. - Sapa-AFP