Cobras burst Titans' bubble at Newlands
The Cobras went where no team have gone before this season when they beat the Titans in their T20 match at Newlands on Friday.
After the first eight rounds of the competition the visitors were the only unbeaten side left in the tournament.
But they finally came unstuck on Friday, losing by three wickets with a ball to spare.
Not that the Titans will be too despondent with a home semi-final already booked and paid for.
Even so, they almost made a fist of defending a total of only 132/9 — the second smallest first innings in the competition this season.
With Rory Kleinveldt in miserly form for his 1/19 from four overs and Dane Paterson taking 3/28 from his full quota, the Titans shambled through an innings in which Henry Davids and Farhaan Behardien were the only batsmen who made headway.
Davids scored 30 off as many balls and Behardien clipped 43 off 30, and their stand of 48 was their team’s biggest.
But Chris Morris and Malusi Siboto were the only other Titans to reach double figures.
The Cobras seemed to be cruising it while Richard Levi and Hashim Amla were hammering 39 inside the first five overs for the first wicket.
Then Morris had Amla caught behind, and midway through the 11th over the Cobras were 53/4.
That became 88/6 in the 16th when Temba Bavuma edged Lungi Ngidi and was taken behind to end his 29, the home side’s top score.
Morris had Kleinveldt caught at backward point to leave the Cobras needing 26 off the last 15 balls.
Ferisco Adams, who smacked an unbeaten 20 off 12 balls, and George Linde, who was 16 not out, got them home in the nick of time.
Morris, Tabraiz Shamsi and Junior Dala took two wickets each.
Dolphins beat Knights
In the other matches, the Dolphins beat the Knights by six wickets with three balls remaining in Bloemfontein on Friday, which likely put the latter out of the running for a semi-final berth.
Warriors win shootout against Lions
The Warriors beat the Lions by four runs on the Duckworth/Lewis method in their T20 match in Potchefstroom on Friday.
Rain reduced the Lions’ innings to 17.1 overs and curtailed the Warriors’ reply to 10 overs.