Langeveldt saves it at the death

After they demolished the Nashua Titans on Sunday in Cape Town, the Cape Cobras almost ended both Highveld sides’ Pro20 championship in one week. The Lions fought back hard to force a draw at Senwes Park.

Even the relentless rain this week didn’t dampen the spirits of the students in Potchefstroom. War-cries shook the stadium and the dancing girls got a work-out due to a good tally of boundaries.

The Lions won the toss and elected to field. Andrew Puttick got the game off to classic Standard Bank Pro20 style with a four off the first ball, but was sent home on the next ball he faced when Craig Alexander impressed on debut by bowling him out.

Herschelle Gibbs & JP Duminy looked like they were going to make an imposing batting pair but Andre Nel ended Gibbs’ innings with a classic catch.
Justin Ontong replaced Gibbs and settled the Cobras nicely, proving his worth yet again. Duminy fell 3rd when he was caught in the 17th over for 56 runs.
After a few more wickets tumbled, Levi and his team finished their innings on a respectable score of 154/6.

The Lions set out to chase that total on what was generally considered a batting wicket. They came close but they just couldn’t do it.

In the second innings, the Lions started off well but the game stagnated after Bula was bowled out for 19.
Neil McKenzie did manage a respectable 35 but Alviro Petersen was their stalwart, holding on to the last over before getting caught on 61 runs.

Individual performances characterized the 2nd innings: Rory Kleinveldt had a poor game, dropping a catch and getting knocked all over the park by Petersen, Roger Telemachus failed to recreate the magic of his last game and helped the Lions add to their final total and Vaughn van Jaarsveld celebrated his birthday with a Mohawk hard hat cake and 25 runs.

Thanks to Charl Langeveldt’s brilliant last over, taking 2 wickets off the last two balls, The two sides drew.

The next game is on Friday where the Titans will try to salvage some pride against the Eagles at SuperSport Park.