The Knights won the first leg of their MTN 40 semifinal against the Dolphins by four wickets at the OUTsurance Oval in Bloemfontein thanks to some big hitting by Obus Pienaar (31*) and Johan van der Wath (29*) on Sunday.
The second leg of the semi-final will be played on Friday at Kingsmead in Durban.
Pienaar faced only 20 delivieries in his innings, hitting four fours and a six. Van der Wath, who won the Man of the Match award for his efforts, faced a mere 14 deliveries and struck three sixes and a four. He struck two of his sixes off Englishman Ravi Bopara (1/45) before the latter left the field with cramps with Kyle Abbott finishing his over. Pienaar and Van der Wath shared a 54-run partnership off only 25 deliveries.
Abbott went for 25 runs in the 38th over which got the Knights off to a favourable position. The Knights chased 227 for victory after the visitors won the toss and elected to bat first and recorded 226/7 in their 40 overs.
Reeza Hendricks (64) and Dean Elgar (58) shared a 109-run partnership for the fourth wicket which laid the foundation for Pienaar and Van der Wath to launch their innnings’ at the end.
It was Hendricks’ 6th half-century of his limited overs career and Elgar’s 11th. Their partnership played a crucial part in the victory of the home side.
Captain Morné van Wyk was dismissed off the very first delivery of the innings when umpire Dennis Smith gave him out caught by wicketkeeper Daryn Smit off the bowling of Jon Kent. The replay however showed that Van Wyk missed the delivery and the sound came from the ball scraping the off-stump.
Rilee Rossouw (1) was trapped leg before wicket by Abbott (2/37). The Knights were in trouble at 29/3 before Hendricks and Elgar joined forces at the crease. Ryan Bailey (14) was caught by Smit off the bowling of Abbott.
Hendricks was trapped leg before by Quinton Friend (1/42), while Elgar met his demise in the same way from the bowling of Imran Tahir (1/37).
Ryan McLaren (2/44) and Jandré Coetzee (2/33) were the best bowlers for the Knights. McLaren struck first when he removed Imraan Khan (13) from the crease with Elgar assisting with the catch. He also claimed the scalp of Kent (19) with Hendricks taking the catch.
Coetzee removed danger man, Bopara (64) with Van Wyk taking the catch behind the wicket. He also got rid of Ahmed Amla (35) with Obus Pienaar assisting.
Glen Addicott (2) and Dave Miller (34) were run out with Ryan McLaren having a hand in both run outs. Miller and Smit shared a 37-run partnership from 32 delivieries which helped the Dolphins to post a reasonable total. – Sapa