Stiaan van Zyl’s excellent century laid the foundations of the Cobras’ 355-4 against the struggling Highveld Lions in their Sunfoil match in Paarl.
After kicking his heels for the past three months, Van Zyl has made an immediate impact since coming in after the departure of Justin Ontong to the Proteas staff.
He made a useful fifty in his first match against the Titans last week, and converted this one into a superb 114 off 164 balls, with 17 fours.
When he started with the Cobras, he made the point that ‘we must focus on not scoring attractive 20s or 30s, but to convert that into big hundreds.’ He certainly did that.
Van Zyl was given a solid platform from which to launch his assault, after another notable innings from Pieter Malan (66 off 125), who put on 109 for the first wicket with Simon Khomari (34). Zubayr Hamza added an aggressive fifty and Kyle Verreynne provided strong backup for Van Zyl, scoring 64 off 107 balls, when he was dismissed just before the close.
He and Van Zyl had added 124 off 30 overs for the fourth wicket and a massive total is on the cards.
The Lions will be desperate, for they are the only team to have lost any matches this season, and they have done it twice. This may be their last throw of the dice to stay in the race.
Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
