It took him a while, but Dane Paterson is back in brilliant form to earn our Turbo Bowler rating.
The four wickets he got against the Knights, in two game-changing spells on Wednesday night – a career-best 4-24 – lifted him to joint-fourth on the wicket-takers list with eight from six games, alongside Kagiso Rabada. That feat followed his other match-winning performance of 3-25 against the Warriors at Boland Park.
We can only speculate what would have happened in the match against the Dolphins, when he bowled Sarel Erwee first ball before the rain came down and washed out play.
Yet, in his first three matches, he had taken a collective 0-98, which led to him being dropped for two matches and having a hard talk with his coaches.
The focus was on his erratic run-up, and he spent long hours in the nets working on a smooth, consistent approach. It has certainly paid dividends.
On a personal level, he is targeting the openers and cracking the top order. He did that against the Warriors, and with even greater effect against the Knights, taking out their openers in his first over and setting back their chase of 157 to win. He came back just as David Miller was getting into wrecking-ball mode, to remove him and Ryan McLaren with successive deliveries in the 14th over. The Cobras won by five runs.
REPORT: Paterson destroys Knights
Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
