With Saturday night’s RamSlam T20 final virtually won, Kevin Pietersen had some words for the Titans hero Mangaliso Mosehle.
“Before I got out, there were 16 more runs to get and he said to make sure I get them in that over so he could go and drink.”
Sadly, Mosehle didn’t finish the job in that over, but never mind, his glorious effort had ensured the Titans won the T20 trophy for the fourth time - sending them one clear of the Cape Cobras.
“It was nice,” Mosehle said of his interaction with the Dolphins’ superstar. “I’ve been reading his book and that gave me a lot of ideas in to how he trained. He just said congratulations and that meant a lot coming from one of my role models.”
Pietersen may have been the box office attraction throughout the tournament -and he received a very loud applause when he came into bat on Saturday - but it was Mosehle who stole the show with an astonishing innings of 87, off 39 balls that included six fours and seven sixes.
“The coach’s instructions to me during the whole season was just to play with freedom. I was allowed to do that, because of the strength of our batting,” said Mosehle.
Playing with freedom has never been an easy task for Mosehle. Outwardly he is blessed with tremendous talent, but inwardly he has battled with a lack of self-belief despite many, including teammates and coaches, telling him how good he was and just to back his ability.
One of those backers is his franchise coach Rob Walter, who said afterwards: “I’m very chuffed for him and I hope that this gives him the belief that I have in him.
“I have told him for a very long time that he is capable of this kind of thing and twice this season he’s shown us - and to do it in a final there is no better time.
“Guys need defining moments in their careers, they need to do it when the pressure is at its highest to potentially just give themselves their own stamp of approval, to tell themselves, hey I belong here and I can do it! I don’t believe there is a greater way to do it than what we saw here this evening.”
The Titans took what looked like a challenging chase and made it into a doddle thanks to Mosehle, whose partnership of 123 for the second wicket with Henry Davids squashed the Dolphins’ hopes. In an extraordinary assault in the 12th over, Mosehle took Imran Tahir - ranked among the top 10 bowlers in both ODIs and T20s - to the sword scoring 24 runs with the bat, while another four came by way of byes.
“The key was to look to hit straight,” said Mosehle.
“When I hit that first one down the ground, it felt good and I told (Henry) that I’m going to go after him, and he bowled a couple in the arc and fortunately they went over the line.”
While that over swung the match decisively in the Titans’ favour, Walter felt good work with the ball in the middle period proved crucial as well. “I was very happy with 160,” said Walter.
“The guys bowled beautifully and Albie (Morkel) really got his changes nicely put together. The fifth to 10th overs were outstanding after the start that they got and if you’re looking for a defining moment in the game - apart from the batting - then getting a team who were 49/0 to go 25/2 in those five overs was it.”
After an exciting though not always high quality T20 competition, the franchises will switch their attention to the first class game, with the Sunfoil Series set to start on Thursday. - The Star