Standard Bank Pro20 Wrap

Cape Cobras, 2009 Standard Bank Pro20 Champions

Herschelle Gibbs put on a one man show, to help the Nashua Cape Cobras win the Standard Bank Pro20 Final on Saturday 21 February at Sahara Park, Newlands, Cape Town. Gibbs opened the batting with Proteas and Cobras captain Graeme Smith. Smith didn’t last long as he fell for two runs. Gibbs played a classic Pro20 innings, he started slow, built his momentum and then unleashed the fury at the end. He scored 87 runs off 62 balls not out, but the brilliance of the innings came from his ability to stay calm and maintain the run rate as wickets fell at regular intervals.

Posting a total of 147 the Cobras had their tails up when they came onto the field to defend their score. Charl Langeveldt bowled a superb 4 overs, for 20 runs picking up 3 wickets. The Eagles were never going to achieve the total and fell behind the run rate from the first over. Another Cobras bowler that needs to be mentioned is Vernon Philander who took 3 wickets for only 17 runs from his 3 overs.

So the Nashua Cape Cobras with their Proteas filled team have finally put a season together and won a trophy. Well done Cobras!

Looking back at the Standard Bank Pro20 series, The sponsors need to be congratulated on a magnificent campaign.They have continued to innovate the game of cricket in both South Africa and the world. How inspiring it is to see domestic cricket selling out stadiums, I hope this carries over into the test series against Australia soon to get underway.

Standard Bank did not only innovate the in-stadium experience, they also continued to take a unique approach to covering the series with a major focus on social media. They invited bloggers from around the country to attend the games and write for the Standard Bank blog Pro20. They even flew some of us around the country to attend the final. They also communicated on Twitter through their Pro20 account. And if that wasn’t enough, included in their SM strategy was a Flickr stream and a YouTube channel which can be found here

Some highlights from the series had to be the two semifinals that both went to the third leg, then to a power over as both games were tied. That will be remembered as one of the great evenings in domestic cricket in South Africa.

Henry Davids 112* for the Cobras was amazing as was the 92 scored by Herschelle Gibbs in the second semifinal to keep the Cobras in the competition.

The Titans got done in by the weather, having two games rained out. They’ll be back next year. And don’t forget about the Gestetner Diamond Eagles, they reached the finals of both the MTN Domestic championship and the Standard Bank Pro20, the work that Corrie van Zyl has done needs to be commended.