Kleinveldt stars in Cobras' slim win

Cape Cobras climbed from the bottom of the table to the top half with a slim three-wicket against Dolphins in Pietermaritzburg. Their second win of the tournament was led by an all-round performance from Rory Kleinveldt who took 4 for 48 and struck a four and six when they needed 10 from the last over.

Chasing 257, Cobras' opening stand of 63 between Richard Levi (52 off 35) and Omphile Ramela (62 off 90) set the tone before Robbie Frylinck removed Levi and Stiaan van Zyl fell for 8 off 26 balls. Their troubles increased when left-arm spinner Kyle Nipper struck twice and Ramela retired hurt on 60 between those two wickets. Dane Vilas steered them past 200 but lost more partners as Frylink accounted for Ramela once he returned. At 221 for 7 and needing 36 off 32 balls, Kleinveldt joined Vilas and struck a six in the 48th over before his last-over strikes. Kleinveldt finished on 26 off 15 and Vilas on 47 off 58.

Dolphins' decision to bat looked useful when their openers Vaughn van Jaarsveld (54 off 52) and Morne van Wyk put on 90 in under 15 overs. Once Dane Piedt struck, van Wyk went on to score a century but didn't get substantial support at the other end. The other batsmen struggled to score briskly and van Wyk's 111 off 127 helped them to 256 for 8 but it was not enough.

Titans moved one place up to the top of the table with a resounding 109-run win in Centurion where they bowled Lions out for 159 while defending 268.

Put in to bat, Titans didn't see huge partnerships but useful contributions from several batsmen. They stuttered in parts - once when opener Henry Davids fell for 63 off 70 in the 21st over and the second time when they slipped from 156 for 4 to 156 for 6 in the 30th over. However, an unbeaten and run-a-ball 61 from Albie Morkel, at No. 7, helped them survive the 50 overs and cross the 250 mark. Beuran Hendricks finished with 3 for 41 and Bjorn Fortuin with 2 for 46.

Titans quicks Eldred Hawken and Junior Dala joined forces to trouble Lions' top and middle order. They sent the top five batsmen back by the time Lions could score 52 in 13 overs. From there on, the lower order only stretched the score past 100 and then 150, Fortuin the top-scorer with 34, but figures of 8-1-40-3 from Hawken and 6-0-21-3 from Dala meant Lions could not put up much of a fight.