Kleinveldt's four wrecks Rajasthan's warm-up

Cape Cobras 142 for 8 (Levi 36, Amit Singh 3-18) beat Rajasthan Royals 114 (Kleinveldt 4-22) by 28 runs
Scorecard

The Rajasthan Royals' warm-up for next week's IPL began with defeat to the Cape Cobras at Newlands. The defending IPL champions, fielding an XI that included rookie Indians and a few first-time overseas names, did well in the field but couldn't reach the target of 143 set by the Cobras, South Africa's domestic Pro20 champions.

The Australian import Rob Quiney got Rajasthan's reply off to a good start, but with wickets falling at regular intervals at the other end, he too succumbed to the pressure. Naman Ojha was the first to go for 10, edging the burly medium-pacer Rory Kleinveldt behind, before Vernon Philander cut Quiney off on 34. Robin Peterson then drew a leading edge from the experienced Mohammad Kaif. The wobble was on.

Peterson drew another wicket when he beat Lee Carseldine's bat and the wicketkeeper Ryan Canning dislodged the bails. It was a tight call that went in Cobras' favour. The next to go was the explosive Tyron Henderson who, after hitting a big six, was run out by a flat throw from Philander. Justin Ontong came on for some spin and brought about a top-edged sweep off Ravindra Jadeja's bat.

Peterson's tidy spin kept a check on runs and the asking rate inched toward nine at this stage. Enter Shane Warne, who shuffled about his crease and looked in the mood to just biff the ball. He was given a life by Andrew Puttick at long-on but hit a few classy shots before he top-edged an attempted steer to third man and was well held for 21 off 19 balls. Rajasthan collapsed against the disciplined Kleinveldt, who took four, and fell 28 runs short.

The hosts' 142 was set up by some clean hitting from Richard Levi (36 off 22 balls), Philander (26 off 21) and Kleinveldt (23 off 17) after a young Rajasthan pace attack made early inroads. In the second over, Peterson - in his first game for the Cobras after transferring from the Warriors - got a faint tickle off medium-pacer Amit Singh for 1. That became 15 for 2 in the third over when Puttick, down a place to No. 3, nicked Siddarth Trivedi to Ojha. Ontong's off stump was knocked out of its base by a lovely yorker from Kamran Khan to make it 22 for 3. Kamran, who was picked out of obscurity in February without any first-class experience, bowled just the one over.

Warne and Jadeja picked up a wicket each with their brands of spin to further dent the Cobras. But Philander, Levi - especially impressive with his hand-eye coordination - and Kleinveldt hit some courageous shots to get the total to respectability. Singh, the medium-pacer from Gujarat, had 3 for 18 from his four overs.

Warne had said before the game he wanted a tough warm-up ahead of the second edition of the IPL and he got it.