The Highveld Lions tied with the Knights in a One-Day Cup match that swung wildly in Kimberley.
If anyone was to claim honours, it would be Man of the Match Hardus Viljoen, who smashed 45 off 22 balls, with four fours and two sixes, to enable his team to match the Knights’ 272-8.
He had come in when the Lions had stalled on 155-6, after sterling efforts from Dominic Hendriks (50) and Rassie van der Dussen (67). Dwaine Pretorius added a valuable 42, but it was Viljoen’s rampage that carried the Lions through.
Earlier, the Knights owed their formidable total to another tailender: Marchant de Lange, whose 53 off 37 supported Shadley van Schalkwyk (34) and Duanne Olivier (25) as 113 runs were scored for the loss of two wickets.
They, too, had been struggling at 159-6, after contributions from David Miller (57), Rudi Second (43) and Patrick Kruger (36).
In Durban, the Dolphins swamped the Warriors by 79 runs.
A vigorous wag from the Dolphins tail enabled them to reach a defendable 250, which must have been dispiriting for the Warriors. They had restricted the Dolphins batting to 141-6, with Jon-Jon Smuts in rampant form, taking four of those for 50 runs.
But Cody Chetty dug in and anchored the innings, while Calvin Savage (25 off 29) and Prenelan Subrayen (34 off 28) enjoyed themselves, Chetty was unbeaten at the end on 53 off 69 balls.
The Warriors could not get going, although they seemed stable when Lesiba Ngoepe and Colin Ackermann put on 40 for the second wicket. But Imran Tahir soon cut that short, having Ackermann caught behind for 13. Three quick wickets followed, which left the Warriors struggling on 72-5 after 19 overs, one of which was Ngoepe, who had scored 44 off 56 balls.
Smuts and Simon Harmer made a determined stand of 54 in 10 overs, but when Harmer was trapped lbw by Savage, the writing was on the wall.
Warriors vs Dolphins scorecard
