Kevin Pietersen recorded back-to-back Ram Slam T20 centuries to render Theunis de Bruyn’s maiden Twenty20 hundred all but meaningless and give the Dolphins a nine-wicket win over the Knights at the Diamond Oval.

On any other day De Bruyn’s 100 off 55 balls in a Knights total of 167-4would have grabbed the headlines, given that it showed his extraordinary talents extend to the shortest format of the game.

However, the visitors made light work of that target thanks to Pietersen, who backed up his superb hundred on Wednesday with an unbeaten 100 to win the game with 20 balls to spare.

The defeat left the Knights with just two wins from seven games in all competitions this season although Reeza Hendricks’ return to form was one reason for cheer.

The opening batsman broke a prolonged run drought with a run-a-ball 42 after the Knights lost the toss and were inserted, keeping De Bruyn company in an 82-run stand for the second wicket until he was stumped off the bowling of Keshav Maharaj.

Thereafter Ryan McLaren was happy to give the strike to an on-song De Bruyn, who was particularly harsh on Prenelan Subrayen, whom he hit for five of his six sixes.

De Bruyn reached his hundred with an over to go, but then fell victim to Kyle Abbott, who also picked up the wicket of McLaren in the final over as the Knights failed to finish with a flourish.

That was hardly to prove decisive, because no total would have been safe with Pietersen in full flow.

Handed the perfect platform by Cameron Delport’s 14-ball 34, and then given sturdy support by Morne van Wyk’s unbeaten 34, Pietersen had full license to thrill and didn’t disappoint, hitting seven sixes in a 45-ball knock.

While it looked as though there weren’t enough runs required for him to bring up a century, he made sure of it by hitting a boundary to record the winning runs, thus completing his second fifty in just 18 deliveries.

The Dolphins retained top spot on the table as a result, having won all three of their games to date.