The glory and fireworks of T20 cricket have moved on for a while, and it’s now down to some real cricket. The domestic season got under way this past weekend, with the SuperSport series kicking off. It’s a fantastic gesture of SuperSport to sponsor the four day game in South Africa, but it is difficult for us cricket nutters to follow the games as the are not broadcast on TV or radio. Thankfully we have the internet, both CricInfo and SuperSport have great live coverage of every ball.

I’ve decided to follow the SuperSport series as much as I can, so here is my first report back from the first round:

Cobras vs Lions

This game was really only about Graeme Smith’s 211 at a strike rate of 98.63, this innings took Smith to his 7^th double century in first class cricket. It was not all one way traffic for the Proteas boys, in the Cape Cobras first inning Smith was out for 19, JP Duminy 20 and recently reappointed Protea Robin Peterson was out for 5.

A notable contribution was made by Andrew Puttick (111) who batted opposite Smith in their second innings opening stand of 333 – this could go down as the highest opening partnership for this years series.

Result: match drawn.

Titans vs Warriors

Having won everything in domestic limited overs cricket in the past year except the Champions League T20 final the Warriors went into the SuperSport series full of confidence. The Warriors did however have a few players out due to injury, and it showed. T20 sensation Dave Jacobs and Mark Boucher were out injured, while Jacques Kallis was being rested.

Ethy Mbhalati tore the visitors to SuperSport  Centurion apart on the first day, as he took 5 for 33 destroying the Warriors batting line up and assisting to bowl them out for an embarrassing 89. Mbhalati went on to take a further two wickets in the Warriors second innings ending the match with a total of 7 wickets.

The only real resistance from the Warriors second innings came in the form of Ashwell Prince, as the hit a magnificent total of 144, consisting of twenty one 4’s and one 6. Jon-Jon Smuts added 78 runs to the Warriors inning helping them regain some lost pride eventually posting 380 in their second inning.

Not to be out done by Mbhalati, Morne Morkel chipped in with four wickets for 81in the Warriors second innings – In the first innings Morkel struck twice for only 11 runs from 13 overs with an economy rate of 0.84

Result: Titans won by 9 wickets.

Knights vs Dolphins

The Dolphins have a very young and inexperienced side and it shows. Some have suggested that the Dolphins may turn a team or two over, but I’m not so sure. The Knights (formerly the Eagles) amassed 407 runs in their first inning, Morne van Wyk top scoring with 97.

The Knights then bowled the Dolphins out for 167, five of the Dolphin’s batsmen we dismissed without scoring a single run… 5 ducks in one innings! Victor Mpitsang the main beneficiary of poor batting, calming 6 wickets.

The Knights batsmen returned and added a further 140 runs to the total setting the Dolphins 380 for victory. The only Dolphins batsman to take note of was Daryn Smith who scored 101 runs.

Ryan McLaren took 5 for 35 for the Knights helping to dismiss the Dolphins for 252.

A notable failure from the first round of SuperSport series cricket was Hashim Amla’s pair of ducks!

Result: Knights won by 128 runs.

During the opening game of the Standard Bank Pro20 2010 between Nashua Dolphins and the Nashua Titans, David Millier caught the eye of a few spectators. Miller scored a quick 30 off 23 balls, before rain stopped play, Dean Oelschig asked me via Twitter what I knew about him. With my endeavour to answer your every question I went online to see what I could find.

Full name: David Andrew Miller Born: June 10, 1989, Pietermaritzburg, Natal Major teams: Dolphins, KwaZulu-Natal Inland Under-19s, South African Schools Batting style: Left-hand bat Bowling style: Right-arm offbreak

Miller is more a batsman than he is a bowler, he’s currently got a first call batting average of 29.84 with a highest score of 108*. In the recent MTN40 Miller 367 runs, in 11 innings at an average of 36.70, his highest score was 85*.

Having made his first call debut in the 07/08 season, Miller is still young and seems to be a player to watch for the future.

*David Miller was added to the Protea’s tour to the West Indies 2010 – Miller made his debut for the Proteas in both the International T20 and ODIs.

Imraan Khan scored his fifth century of the season today, ensuring that he wasn’t out done by Ashwell Prince’s 254 for the Warriors. Khan’s century came from 175 balls, he ended the day on 135 not out. Both players were named in the squad to take on Australia in the third and final test match at Newlands. It seems that some players only need a sniff at a chance of playing for the Proteas to up their game.

It’s great to see South Africa has depth, we’ll be expecting big things from these to players that seem to be in fine form.

Unfortunately there hasn’t been much to write about when it comes to bowling in Super Sport series, the only noticeable performance came from Yusuf Abdullah, taking 5 wickets from 63 runs in 19 overs for the Dolphins.

The Standard Bank Pro20 series exploded this evening, in what could never have been scripted both 3rd leg semifinals were tied, with a power over deciding the out come.

The Gestetner Diamond Eagles stole the game from the Cheverolet Warriors in the power over, Dillon du Preez performed under pressure in the power over hitting a 6 from the first ball, with partner R Bailey they hit 16 runs off the over.

All the pressure was on the Warriors, and after their early celebrations they were just not focused enough and didn’t come close to getting the 17 needed for victory.

All the excitement of the power over has cleared my memory of the actual game. The Warriors batted first but could only post a lowly 97 runs in 19.3 overs. Another stand out performance by the Eagles bowler CJ de Villiers taking 5 wickets for just 12 run in 3.3 overs.

The Eagles could have put this one away easily, but the found themselves 11/3. Dippenaar and Elger came together and steadied the ship, the Warriors fought hard through Juan Theron’s bowling. when the Eagles got a single off the last ball, the Warriors burst into premature celebration thinking they had won the 3 leg semifinals.

The Eagles will now travel to Cape Town to face the Cape Cobras.

Just as we were recovering from that tied match the Nashua Dolphins and the Nashua Cape Cobras also played their game to a tie. The Dolphins needed 17 runs off the last over which they got to the amazement of the crowd.

Then the power over came, the tension built, even more drama was about to unfold. Dolphins batted first and only managed to make 3 runs, Jayasuryia out, bowled first ball. Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith came to the wicket only needing 4 runs off 6 balls, the drama continued, Smith was run out at the non strikers end on the first ball. Gibbs thrives under pressure, he took two runs from the third ball and the next one went for four. Gibbs and Grant Rowley had a heated argument after the winning boundary.

During the game the Cape Cobras posted a defensible 148. with JP Duminy again top scoring with 53, well supported by Justin Ontong’s 44 and another solid 34 from the captain Graeme Smith.

The Dolphins struggled loosing HD Ackerman and Jayasuriya very early, but it was Johann louw that hit 17 runs from the last over to take it to the power over.

So the Final will be in Cape Town, Saturday 21st at 17h30. Nashua Cape Cobras vs The Gestetner Diamond Eagles.

Below is a video of Sanath Jayasuriya hitting Rory Kleinveld for three sixes in a row, then following it up with two wickets off the first two balls that he bowled for the Nashua Dolphins in the Standard Bank Pro20 series.

Sunday brought the business end of the semifinals to the Pro20 teams, unfortunately the rain again played a hand in the out come of both games.

The first game of the day had the Eagles and Warriors going at it at the Sahara Oval. The Warriors found themselves trying to defend their total of 117, but not enough overs had been bowled in the second innings when the rain started to fall. The Warriors got off this time, the game will be replayed this evening. Watch out for CJ de Villiers this bowler is the find of the Standard Bank Pro20 campaign 2009.

The Cape Cobras beat the Dolphins by 38 runs on the D/L method, Herchelle Gibbs helped the Cobras post the highest Pro20 total at Kingsmead of 191. Gibbs played a spectacular innings scoring 92 off 57 balls, he go to his half century off 40 balls, the following 42 came from just 17 balls.

Sanath Jayasutiya set the tone for the Dolphins going for a duck from the first ball, by the time the Dolphins had 50 runs on the board they had lost four wickets. Then the rain came when they were on 59/5, they were never going to win this one and the D/L method confirmed that.

The Dolphins and Cape Cobras are one a piece in the three leg semifinal, it’s going to be a cracker in Durban on Wednesday evening.

The Nashua Dolphins set the Cape Cobras a record total to chase for the win at Newlands. The total of 162 would have been the highest total chased down in a Pro 20 game at Newlands.

Sanath Jayasuriya who was bought for R 1 000 000 for the Standard Bank Pro20 campaign came out blazing for the Dolphins, hitting Rory Kleinveld for three six’s in a row, then followed them up with a 4, Jayasuriya took 23 off the over. He was eventually out for 41 off 24 balls. The ever reliable HD Ackerman top scored for the Dolphins with 62 runs. Ackerman is now the top scorer in the Standard Bank Pro20 2009. The Cobras fight back showed their quality, while Jayasuriya was at the crease the Dolphins were on track to score 200.

The Cobras were favorites to win with only 162 on the board, but it was not to be, the early loss of Henry Davids and Herschelle Gibbs found the Cobras at 4/2. This brought captain Graeme Smith and JP Duminy together, currently one of the best bating pairs in world cricket. Smith and Duminy started the recovery, as soon as they got going JP Duminy was caught behind by a stunning catch by wicket keeper Smit trying to run it to third man.

Smith was then caught on the boundary for 32 from 28 to take the Cobras to 63-5. At 68-7 Jayasuriya took a wicket from his first ball in Pro20 cricket. Telemachus and Levi (46) put up some resistance but it was too little to late, the early loss of wickets were to much to overcome.

The Cobras have some hard work to do, their Proteas filled team has failed again.

Standard Bank Pro20

Tonight the second semi-final gets underway at 18:00 at Sahara Park, Newlands. This is the big game of the semi-final series and we’re looking forward to seeing Graeme Smith making his return for the franchise team. J.P. Duminy requires 96 runs to achieve 1,000 Pro20 runs.

The squad for the Nashua Cape Cobras is as follows:

1. Graeme Smith (C)
2. Herschelle Gibbs
3. Henry Davids
4. JP Duminy
5. Justin Ontong
6. Richard Levi
7. Andrew Puttick (w/k)v
8. Rory Kleinveld
9. Roger Telemachus
10. Claude Henderson
11. Charl Langeveldt
12. Stiaan Van Zyl
13. Vernon Philander

With a Cobras team full of international players it’s going to be difficult for the Dolphins bowlers, the toss in this game is going to be important.

The Nashua Dolphin team to play in both games this weekend are:

1. Ahmed Amla (captain)
2. Sanath Jayasuriya
3. Hashim Amla
4. Grant Rowley
5. Hylton Deon Ackerman
6. Jon Kent
7. Pierre de Bruyn
8. Daryn Smit
9. Johann Louw
10. Quinton Friend
11. Alfonso Thomas
12. Yusuf Abdulla
13. Imraan Khan

It’s going to be a cracker tonight!

The Nashua Titans suffered a severe blow on Friday night as the second game in their Pro 20 campaign was abandoned. The cancellation of the game due to a water-logged outfield also ensured that Highveld Lions stay at the bottom of the log with only 2 points from 2 games.

Conversely, at Sahara Stadium Kingsmead the Standard Bank Pro20 came alive with the home team securing the win off the last ball. Earlier in the evening the Cape Cobras posted a below par 119/8 off their 20 overs. The victory for the Dolphins should have been easy but they made hard work of it, finding themselves 67/6. Then Johan Louw and Pierre de Bruyn came together to take the Dolphins to 110/7 from 19 overs, leaving 10 runs needed off the last over.

Left-arm spinner Claude Henderson bowled the final over, the match came down to the last ball with the Dolphins needing 6 runs. Johann Louw remained calm under pressure and delivered the victory to a jubilant Dophins team.

The Nashua Dolphins are now at the top of the Standard Bank Pro20 log with 2 victories from 3 games including the no result against the Nashua Titans.

Sunday 25th January, SuperSport Park, Centurion

The Standard Bank Pro20 continued today with the rematch of the 2008 Final with the Nashua Titans vs Nashua Dolphins at SuperSport Park, Centurion.

The Titans won the toss and elected to field, as soon as the game got under way there was a clap of thunder and rain soon fell to halt play after just one over. 20 minutes later the players were back on the field, the Titans didn’t take long to get the game under their control. A stellar bowling performance from Ethy Mbhalati (4 overs, 6 runs, 2 wickets, 1.5 r/o) put the Titans on the front foot.

The rest of the Titan bowlers did well and restricted the Dolphins to 121/9 after 20 overs, with the wicket of Quinton Friend falling on the last ball of the innings.

Unfortunately the rain had the final say and the match was called off. This leaves the Titans with a mountain to climb if they are to defend their Pro20 title this year, having lost to the Warriors last week and the no result this week it’s do or die from here on out.