Ontong blitz leads Cobras to victory
Round-up of the games played in the 2013-14 Momentum One Day Cup on October 27, 2013
ESPNcricinfo staff
27-Oct-2013
Cape Cobras 286 for 6 (Ontong 97) beat Titans 285 for 7 (Behardien 89, Davids 80, Williams 3-41) by four wickets
Scorecard
Scorecard
Titans pushed past a wobbly start to set up a competitive target, but Justin Ontong proved the difference, as his whirlwind 97 took Cape Cobras to a thrilling victory, their third in the Momentum One Day Cup.
Set 286 to win, Cobras began solidly with Andrew Puttick and Dave Vilas putting on 75 runs, but Titans regained the advantage when both players fell in successive overs. Stiaan van Zyl continued to resist but, with the required rate on an upward trend, things were getting dicey.
Titans would have hoped Ontong, coming off a stretch of poor form in domestic limited-overs matches, would succumb to the pressure, but the Cobras captain was unfazed. A century partnership for the fifth wicket between him and Justin Kemp helped overhaul the required 95 in the final 10 overs. Ontong himself scored 55 off 33 balls in that period, capping it off by smashing 19 runs off the penultimate over. He was dismissed three short of a century, but by then, Cobras already had sneaked ahead.
Earlier, Titans were nursing a poor start - 67 for 3 in the 19th over - when Henry Davids, with 80 and Farhaan Behardien, who top-scored with 89, pulled off a rescue act. The duo added 96 runs, but it was the fifth wicket partnership that took Titans into a commanding position. Behardien and Mangaliso Mosehle looted 108 runs in 71 balls hoisting their side to 286 by the end of 50 overs. Mosehle was the driving force of the stand, scoring 62 off 43 balls, with 10 fours. Cobras' 20-year-old seamer Lizaad Williams, with 3 for 41, was the pick of the bowlers.
Only 43.3 overs were possible in Pietermaritzburg, as the match between Dolphins and Lions was abandoned due to rain.
Dolphins were losing momentum after a 119-run stand for the second wicket between Morne van Wyk and Cameron Delport when rain put paid to any further play. Van Wyk top-scored with 61 off just 38 balls, slamming seven fours and three sixes while Delport hit eight fours and a six as he made 56.
After their departure, seamer Chris Morris and legspinner Eddie Leie picked up four wickets between them to slow the scoring but it was to no avail with weather having final say.
Prospects were even worse at East London where the match between Warriors and Knights was called off without a ball bowled.
