The Buildnat Cape Cobras can continue their resurgence against the VKB Knights at PPC Newlands on Wednesday if they rectify their death bowling which went awry against the Hollywoodbets Dolphins on Sunday, said Dane Vilas, one of the batting heroes of the emphatic seven-wicket CSA T20 Challenge victory in Durban.
Vilas said the fielding by the Cobras against the Dolphins was incredibly good, and the batting was as good.
The Buildnat Cape Cobras had to produce a record chase to eclipse the 178 for five by the Dolphins and they smashed 181 for three with eight balls to spare.
One of the building blocks of their magnificent victory was the way in which Kieron Pollard, Richard Levi and Vilas rotated the strike while mesmerizing the spinners with an impressive array of attacking strokes.
A proverbial wagon wheel of the scoring areas would have revealed that they found the boundary ropes with contemptuous ease from third man to fine leg.
Vilas revealed that he had thrown hundreds and hundreds of balls in the practice nets to Levi, who has worked meticulously on improving his array of attacking strokes.
Levi has never been a pure leg-side bound player. In his 117 off 51 balls against New Zealand in 2012, he struck 13 sixes, most of them on the leg-side, simply because the Black Caps bowled very straight at him.
Subsequently, the theory on the domestic circuit has circled that you would rather bowl wider of off-stump to him, but Levi pounced on those wide deliveries in the recent past and deposited them past extra cover or point, thereby making a mockery of the assumption that he is a slightly one dimensional batsman.
Vilas said the Cobras need to improve their death bowling. Dane Paterson is an excellent practitioner of this art, but missed his mark once or twice in Durban. It is not likely to happen again, as he is nationally known for the way in which he can limit the so-called boundary bashers in the final stages of the match.
The return of JP Duminy is set to bolster the Cobras against the Knights, who are anchored to the bottom of the log.
If the Cobras win this match, starting at 18:00 on Wednesday at PPC Newlands and repeat their heroics at St. George’s Park on Friday at 18:00 against the Warriors, they will be in a good position to reach the semi-final play-off, provided they also punish the bizhub Highveld Lions at Boland Park in Paarl on Sunday at 14:30.
The Buildnat Cape Cobras squad is: Kieron Pollard (capt), Beuran Hendricks, Richard Levi, Justin Ontong, Wayne Parnell, Dane Vilas, Aviwe Mgijima, Nkululeko Serame, Dane Paterson, Rory Kleinveldt, Cebo Tshiki, GF Linde, JP Duminy.
