Wayne Parnell has been a stand-out bowler for the Cape Cobras this season, but he was the hero with the bat in a six-wicket win over the Lions on Sunday.
Left-hander Parnell hit a remarkable 99 off 57 balls, including nine fours and five sixes, as an opener to take the Cobras close to victory in chasing 154 to win off 20 overs in the T20 Challenge at the Wanderers.
Rory Kleinveldt then finished proceedings with a massive six off Lions spinner Eddie Leie off the first ball of the final over to hand coach Paul Adams’s side a vital win that keeps them in the playoff race.
The Cobras moved up to second spot on the log with 20 points after eight matches, although they are a hefty 10 points behind the Titans. Crucially, though, they do have a game in hand on the third-place Dolphins, who are on 18 points.
The Cobras made heavy weather of reaching the target after Andrew Puttick and Parnell gave them a strong start with a 58-run opening partnership in seven overs.
Parnell was promoted to the top of the order following a bizarre incident in which regular opener Richard Levi was injured when captain Justin Ontong struck his teammate with a throw from the boundary.
Levi didn’t see the ball coming and it hit him flush on the back of the head, and he stayed on the ground to receive treatment. He walked off the field in gingerly fashion, and was unable to bat.
That saw Adams utilise Parnell upfront, and it proved to be a masterstroke as he flayed the Lions attack all over Wanderers with a number of sweet strikes.
He survived a “dismissal” off speed merchant Hardus Viljoen when he had 20 on the board, as a steep bouncer saw Parnell caught off a top-edge. But Viljoen – who bowled regularly above 145km/h – had just overstepped the line, and the Cobras all-rounder struck the free hit for a boundary just to rub it in further.
But while Parnell was dominating the bowling, the Cobras lost momentum as first Puttick (19) and then Ontong (9) and SA Engelbrecht (6) got bogged down. Suddenly the Cobras were 120/3 in 17.1 overs, and requiring 34 to win off just 17 balls.
Parnell, though, wasn’t finished just yet and proceeded to hit Viljoen for consecutive boundaries and followed it up with two big sixes off Aaron Phangiso.
Those two blows took him to 99 not out, but Parnell wanted to go to his maiden T20 hundred in style and went for another maximum over midwicket – only to get an outside edge and be caught at short third man.
With six runs needed off the last over, Leie dropped it short and Kleinveldt packed it on to the roof of a building over midwicket to seal the deal.
Kleinveldt also impressed with the ball during the Lions innings with figures of 1/17 in three overs as he and veteran all-rounder Justin Kemp (2/26 in four overs) helped to restrict the home side to 153/5 in 20 overs.
The Lions needed some late contributions from Dwaine Pretorius (33 not out off 18 balls) and captain Thami Tsolekile (25 not out off 14 balls) to get them over the 150-mark, with Kemp in particular putting the breaks on in the middle overs.
The Cobras’ next match is on Wednesday against the Warriors in East London.
@IndyCapeSport