Lions win on boundary count after tie and Super Over

Neither a full match, nor a Super Over could separate the two teams at the top of South Africa's domestic twenty-over competition table in a match which was eventually decided on boundary count. Lions beat Knights by virtue of the seven sixes and 11 fours they struck compared to the three sixes and 14 fours Knights managed, after they were all square on 161 for 7 in the allocated overs and 7 for 1 in the Super Over.

The difference was down to Chris Gayle, who marched to his third milestone in as many matches. Gayle had a half-century and the competition's only hundred so far to his name before this game and made a second fifty, which included eight fours and a six before he was run-out.

Gayle and Alviro Petersen gave the Lions a sparking start, with 80 runs inside the first 10 overs but a mid-innings wobble almost derailed them. None of their batsmen after Neil McKenzie made any significant contributions as Lions lost five wickets for 44 runs, largely thanks to seamer Shadley van Schalkwyk, who claimed 2 for 17 in his four overs.

Chris Morris' 22 off nine balls took the Lions above the 150 mark but they would have known they would need a strong performance to defend against a Knights line-up who have batted well in the competition so far.

Knights were aggressive in the reply once again and raced to 50 before five overs had been completed before they lost their first wicket. Gerhardt Abrahams 'run-out gave Lions an opening and they prised further with two more wickets in the next two overs.

Pite van Biljon and Diego Rosier had to rebuild and their 31-run fourth-wicket stand but legspinner Eddie Leie took two wickets in two balls to leave Knights at 90 for 5 and Lions in the driving seat. Obus Pienaar took the Knights within touching distance of victory but a wicket in the final over from Lions' best-performing seamer Hardus Viljoen saw the match tied.

Lonwabo Tsotsobe, who had been expensive in the game, conceded just seven runs in the Super Over and took a wicket to leave Lions with what seemed a straightforward task. Gayle took four off Russell's first ball but was then bowled by a perfect yorker to leave Petersen and Morris to collect singles in a field Knights refused to bring in. Once they had got to seven, Petersen blocked the final ball, knowing Lions would win because of a higher boundary count.

Dolphins, the defending champions, spun their way to a bonus-point victory over Titans, who remain winless in the competition. Twin half-century partnerships at the top set Dolphins up for a formidable score, but it was the six wickets shared between Prenalen Subrayen and Keshav Maharaj that ensured a dominant showing.

Although none of the Dolphins batsmen managed a half-century, their top four all made contributions. Morne van Wyk's 37 came off just 14 balls and provided an aggressive start. They reached 53 inside four over and 100 before the halfway mark, but Darren Sammy, Corbin Bosch and Tabraiz Shamsi pulled things back. Sammy took the first two wickets and Ethy Mbhalati returned to pluck a pair of the middle-order, which kept the Dolphins to six runs under 200.

Titans needed a strong display, but they were never really in it. They managed only one individual score over 30, and the succumbed to mounting pressure. Five of the top six batsmen were caught attempting to go big and misreading the pace of the pitch. That allowed Subrayen and Maharaj to slice through the Titans' batting and leave them sharing last place with Warriors.

Dolphins are up to second on the table, but have played one more match than all the other teams except Cobras, who have two games in hand.