All posts by csb10.top

The problems at the top of the New Zealand order will need to correct themselves if the hosts are to overcome West Indies in the two-Test series starting in Dunedin on Thursday. New Zealand have dominated recent encounters with the visitors, but this time the batting concerns will make it a difficult record to maintain, especially when their opponents carry Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.Nowhere is the problem bigger than with the openers and yet another partnership will be on show in Dunedin. Jamie How and Tim McIntosh will form the 17th combination for their country in the past 36 Tests, ending the seven-match pairing of How and Aaron Redmond, who was dropped despite making 83 against Australia in Adelaide.It was a surprising decision and considering the difficulties with the openers, he could have been persevered with for longer. The main reason the selectors favoured Auckland’s McIntosh, a left-hander, was his early season first-class form, which included 349 runs at 69.80 with two centuries.Another change made by the new coach Andy Moles, who takes over from John Bracewell, is the movement up to No. 3 of Daniel Flynn. Flynn, who pushes Jesse Ryder to five, is seen as a player better suited to negotiating the new ball. Moles hopes Ryder’s free-flowing nature will be better suited to the middle order, which could be strengthened by the expected return from injury of Jacob Oram. However, Oram sent a scare through the camp by picking up a calf problem on the eve of the game.New Zealand’s highest score in four innings in Australia was 270, but the new squad carries much more depth. Oram, who had recovered from back and finger problems before the latest setback, is due to bat at six while James Franklin, who is now a fully-fledged allrounder, could be as low as No. 9, despite hitting consecutive centuries, including a double, in his past two first-class matches for Wellington.Both teams will be desperate for a series win. The loser will take eighth spot in the rankings, one place ahead of the cellar-dwellers Bangladesh, while the winner will be in seventh. Five years ago New Zealand were third and threatening to go into second.While a win would move the hosts up, it is also important for the game in the country. When West Indies toured in 1980 there was huge excitement and expectation, despite that team being one of the best in history. This time their arrival has gone largely under the radar and a big reason for that is the lack of recent success by the New Zealanders. West Indies’ rise to seventh is more to do with the poor form of the hosts than a sudden reversal of fortunes in the Caribbean.The last time the sides met in a Test series was in New Zealand almost three years ago, when Stephen Fleming’s team won convincingly. Only four of that outfit remains, leaving a very inexperienced squad. New Zealand’s top five batsmen have amassed 39 Tests between them; Chanderpaul has played 112 and Gayle 73.West Indies have not had a Test engagement since July when they lost 2-0 to Australia at home. That may work against them in Dunedin, where the conditions have been damp, but at least they have world-class batsmen in their top order.

Gayle’s explosive play will suit the tiny ground, where the boundaries are among the shortest in the world. Chanderpaul showed his class against Australia, scoring 442 runs at 147.33, while Sarwan warmed up for the series with 158 in the draw against Auckland.One group hoping to benefit from the moist conditions is the bowlers. Mark Gillespie has come into the side for Chris Martin, who was a surprise omission, and the change further depletes the experience of the home line-up. The new spearhead has played only two Tests – Martin has a reasonable record after 45 – but the New Zealanders may still hold a slight advantage with the ball.Gillespie can operate over 140kph while Iain O’Brien has been in form recently and Franklin offers left-arm variation. The captain Daniel Vettori might also be dangerous on a pitch that has offered little assistance to pace recently.In contrast, West Indies have nothing like the venom their attacks had in the 1980s. In the warm-up match Auckland made 587 for 7 declared. Fidel Edwards, who is on 95 Test wickets, can bowl fast, but after a promising start to his career is yet to make a big mark in the international game. Daren Powell and Jerome Taylor are likely to be Edwards’ support partners on an unpredictable surface.The pitch in Dunedin was under intense scrutiny last year, when it was so dry in a first-class match that a huge crater the size of a foot was created. That led to an inquiry by New Zealand Cricket, but the strip was cleared for use for the first Test against Bangladesh. Since then it has offered little help to the quick bowlers, but heavy rain over the past few days could change that.Another of the major talking points is the size of the boundaries. Vettori has already been critical of distance, which ranges from 52 to 62 metres. However, Gayle and Ryder will be particularly excited by them at the start of such a crucial contest.New Zealand (from) Jamie How, Tim McIntosh, Daniel Flynn, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum (wk), Daniel Vettori (capt), James Franklin, Mark Gillespie, Iain O’Brien, Jeetan Patel.West Indies (from) Chris Gayle (capt), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lionel Baker, Carlton Baugh, Sulieman Benn, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Fidel Edwards, Leon Johnson, Xavier Marshall, Brendan Nash, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor.

Michael Hussey has chosen to play for his IPL team Chennai Super Kings instead of his Australian state side Western Australia in the upcoming Champions Twenty20 League in December. Hussey’s name was missing from Western Australia’s 15-man squad, which includes other IPL participants Shaun Marsh, Luke Pomersbach and Luke Ronchi, whose franchises did not qualify for the Champions League.Chennai are expected to pay the Warriors a compensation for Hussey. Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, recently said that players with dual loyalties could take a call on the team they wanted to represent. “If Hussey plays for Chennai Super Kings, the Champions League governing council will pay US$200,000 to his Australian club for releasing him,” Modi said.Marsh was last season’s top scorer for Western Australia as well as his IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab. Arron Crawford, a left-arm fast-medium bowler who won a full contract with the state this year, is also part of the squad along with the right-arm fast bowler Steve Magoffin and the allrounder Matt Johnston – the three were not part of the Warriors’ KFC Twenty20 campaign last season.They replace Danny McLauchlan, Sean Ervine and the retired Mathew Inness in the squad. Mitchell Johnson, the Test fast bowler who moved to Western Australia this season, was ineligible for selection because he was contracted with Queensland last year. Tom Moody, the Western Australia coach, was optimistic about his team’s chances in the Champions League because many of the squad members have played in India before.”[Players have been to India] whether that be on national duty, in the Indian Premier League, or on our pre-season tours, which we have undertaken with the support of the University of Western Australia in recent seasons,” Moody said. “It is going to be a tremendous opportunity for all of the players and management, and everyone involved is very excited about representing Western Australia on a global stage.”Western Australia squad Marcus North (capt), Adam Voges, David Bandy, Arron Crawford, Liam Davis, Brett Dorey, Theo Doropoulos, Ben Edmondson, Aaron Heal, Matt Johnston, Trent Kelly, Steve Magoffin, Shaun Marsh, Luke Pomersbach, Luke Ronchi (wk).

England’s preparations for their US$20 million match against Stanford Superstars on Saturday has been affected with a few players hit by a stomach bug.Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Luke Wright and Ryan Sidebottom all missed England’s final warm-up against Trinidad & Tobago on Tuesday, and there were also injury concerns for Owais Shah and Matt Prior.Shah tweaked his ankle while sliding in the outfield, while Prior took a blow on the elbow. Middlesex’s Dawid Malan and Steve Finn were called up for 12th man duties during the Trinidad game, although neither have been officially drafted into the party.Despite the stomach bug, England scraped home with a thrilling one-run victory, as Trinidad’s tail couldn’t quite chase down 141.

Adam Gilchrist has insisted that he did not accuse Sachin Tendulkar of lying while presenting evidence in the racism hearing after the controversial Sydney Test. He also denied calling him a “bad sport” after observing that it was often hard to locate Tendulkar for an after-match handshake following Indian losses.Gilchrist’s comments, quoted from his soon-to-be released autobiography , caused a stir in India and both players confirmed they had spoken to each other and agreed that the remarks were taken out of context. The main issue surrounded the racism hearing of the Indian offspinner Harbhajan Singh.Harbhajan was accused of racially abusing Andrew Symonds and was suspended for three Tests but later had his ban overturned on appeal. Tendulkar was batting with Harbhajan when the incident occurred and Gilchrist observed that the evidence Tendulkar gave during the match referee’s hearing was different from that he presented during the appeal.”All I stated are the facts that everyone knows, that initially Sachin mentioned he wasn’t sure what Harbhajan had said, then later confirmed his support when Harbhajan said he’d used a Hindi word in the heated exchange with Symonds,” Gilchrist wrote in his column for the . “Nowhere do I accuse Sachin of lying. So to have spoken directly with Sachin about these matters was a great relief for me.”However MV Sridhar, the Indian team manager for the tour who was present at both the hearings, first with Mike Procter and then with Justice John Hansen, contradicted Gilchrist’s statements. Sridhar said Tendulkar had told Procter that he had heard some form of abuse but the match referee did not probe further. Later, Sridhar said, Tendulkar told Hansen he had heard Harbhajan say but clarified that it was an abbreviated form of an abuse.”I am pleased to say that at the conclusion of our chat the same respect Sachin and I have always had for each other continues to exist. The headlines arose from the manner in which some journalists interpreted a couple of points I have made in an about-to-be released autobiography.”Gilchrist said the Harbhajan hearing was too big an issue to ignore in his book. “My only real reference to it was to recall the way the events unfolded from the initial hearing, the night the match finished, through to the final judicial hearing a few weeks later.”Gilchrist said the references to Tendulkar not shaking his hand in the changing rooms after Tests were merely to highlight the cultural differences between the two countries. He said he never intended to question Tendulkar’s sportsmanship.”In the book, I mention that a cultural difference between our team and that of the Indians was the importance of shaking hands with the opposition after a loss,” he said. “It’s simply my thoughts and from my experiences it seemed that this routine wasn’t as important to some oppositions as it was in Australia, where it is drilled into us from an early age.”I made the comment that Sachin and Harbhajan were sometimes not around to shake hands. Whether that is right or wrong is not my point. It was more the cultural differences I was trying to highlight, which it’s fair to say, have been integral in most disputes or flare-ups between these two proud nations in the past.”Gilchrist said he had nothing against India and that he had always enjoyed touring the country. “I also feel that people who know me, or people who read the book in its entirety, will know only too well the sincere affection I have for India as a country and the very friendly, passionate people that live here.”

Competitions between India and Australia have, in the recent past, been compared to other legendary rivalries in cricket. Australia have just landed in India to defend the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but their A side, set to depart the country, also have much to play for. In the pre-series build-up to Australia’s Test tour, it’s only fitting that Australia A and India A find themselves in the final of the tri-series starting tomorrow and followers will expect nothing less than a cracking contest.The first encounter, in Hyderabad, was forgettable for the hosts as they were vanquished by a superior all-round effort from the Australians. The second meeting, in Chennai on Wednesday, was reduced to a dead rubber but India bounced back to level the score despite suffering a few hiccups on the way.The crucial difference between the two results was Shaun Tait. On a comeback trail after a self-imposed break from the game, Tait’s swing and extra zip – his stock delivery – sparked India’s top-order wobble and his 3 for 27 off nine overs dictated the result. India had to make amends for the defeat and they did so, taking advantage of his absence for the final game yesterday in chasing down 273. Though Mark Cameron kept the batsmen in check with his speed, his support seamers leaked more than six an over, thereby emphasising why Tait is so important to the equation. Whether or not India find an answer to Tait remains to be seen; he’s all set to return after a rest, though it’s uncertain who he will replace.The ‘Test’ leg of the tour was initially meant as a selection trial for the Australian Test squad and while only a select few managed to make it, the rest have used this tri-series as a warm-up for the Sheffield Shield which starts in less than a month’s time. Simon Helmot, the A team coach, said the players have had to battle some of the toughest conditions, taking the humidity into account.”We’re very pleased with the competition through this tour,” Helmot said. “Both India and New Zealand have pushed us and the players are refreshed for the final.”Australia had experimented with the batting line-up on Wednesday, promoting Adam Voges and Marcus North to open, but Helmot said they would revert to their regular duo of Phillip Hughes and Luke Ronchi. Hughes, in fact, did well for himself at No. 7, scoring a brisk unbeaten 49 to lift Australia in the final overs.India, on the other hand, are yet to solve their opening woes. Crucially, Robin Uthappa and Swapnil Asnodkar have yet to justify their selection. They have managed only 33 and 23 runs respectively but the one under immense pressure is undoubtedly Uthappa. He fell to a poor shot after a sound start against New Zealand last week and yesterday lost his off stump to Cameron after punishing the same bowler past mid-on for a sparkling boundary.However, Dav Whatmore, the India A coach, threw his support behind Uthappa. “It is unfortunate that he hasn’t had the best of moments in this series but he’s experienced enough to work his way back into form quickly,” he said. The Indians also experimented with their bench strength for the final league game but Whatmore was non-committal on the final line-up.The unexpected postponement of the Champions Trophy left a huge gap in the international cricket calendar. Under normal circumstances, the final would have been overshadowed by the events in Pakistan but the bunch of hopefuls now find themselves thrust in the spotlight, thereby giving this series the higher profile it deserves.India A (probable): 1 Jaydev Shah, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 DB Ravi Teja, 4 Suresh Raina (capt), 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 Yusuf Patha, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Praveen Kumar, 11 Dhawal Kulkarni.Australia A (probable) 1 Luke Ronchi (wk), 2 Phillip Hughes 3 David Hussey, Cameron White (capt), 5 George Bailey, 6 Marcus North, 7 Adam Voges, 8 Ashley Noffke, 9 Xavier Doherty, 10 Brett Geeves/Mark Cameron, 11 Shaun Tait.

Darren Gough’s final appearance at Headingley before retirement ended in a sodden abandonment against Warwickshire, but the Yorkshire supporters may not have seen the last of him after all.He has been approached by Yorkshire, and a few other counties, to play Twenty20 next season and says he will consider the offers after the winter. The IPL has also come calling. Retirement in the modern game doesn’t always mean the end.”Yorkshire are keen for me to play for them next year in Twenty20 and I’ve had a couple of offers from other counties,” Gough told the “If I am going to play Twenty20 next year, then realistically it would be for Yorkshire, but I’ve just told the club to plan ahead as normal and we’ll see where we are next March,” he added. “I’ll have to see how I feel after the winter because my body might be 100 per cent by then or it might be in bits, but I’m not going to rush into anything.”It will come down to what is right for both parties at the time. It might not be right for Yorkshire or for me, but if Yorkshire do need someone and I’m okay, then I’m an obvious candidate.”Gough’s Championship appearances have become fewer and fewer during his final season but he has remained a regular in one-day cricket. Typical of Gough he still believes he can perform in limited-overs cricket and is weighting up an IPL deal.”I’ve also had a lot of IPL interest because they know I can still perform in the one-day game,” he said.

The ECB has announced a four-year extension to its existing television contract with BSkyB and Channel Five in a deal worth around £300 million (US$600 million).The current contract expires at the end of next summer, and the new agreement will keep all live home English cricket at Sky until the end of 2013. Channel Five retains the rights to show highlights shortly after the close of each day’s play.”We held extensive talks with all broadcasters and were determined to be as flexible as possible in terms of our packaging and scheduling to allow the maximum number of bids for cricket from all areas of the broadcast industry,” ECB chairman Giles Clarke said. “The ECB recognise and are grateful for Sky Sports’ loyalty to the sport – both at home and when the England team tour overseas.’It had been expected that BBC and Channel 4 might submit rival bids, but in the event neither showed interest. Channel 4 were aggrieved at losing out in 2005 and the company is in a less robust position that it was four years ago.The BBC’s decision to stay out of the process left Sky effectively unchallenged. When BSkyB was awarded the contract at the end of 2005, the ECB, with Clarke at the forefront of negotiations, was lambasted in many quarters for not keeping broadcasts on terrestrial television, but it is likely to get a much easier ride this time because of the lack of interest from mainstream broadcasters.Instead, Clarke trained his guns on the BBC for their lack of interest. “Now is the time for a real debate on the future of public sector sports broadcasting, which I know is under consideration and under review,” he said. “All these people interested in cricket buy TV licences, and surely they should have a right to expect that the public sector broadcasters mount bids for the nation’s summer sport, as they do in the case of one of them for 12 other sports?”An ECB spokesman suggested that the BBC’s lack of interest stemmed directly from their re-acquisition of the rights to Formula One motor racing, which requires a commitment of 16 weeks a year. “Just how many people play Formula One?” said Clarke. “If the BBC is to remain part of this it must answer to the millions of cricket fans in England and Wales how it prioritises its investment in sports rights.”The BBC, however, hit back with indignation at Clarke’s comments. “We’ve always said any bid for live Test cricket was subject to value for money and fitting into scheduling,” said a spokesman, “In our view neither of these criteria were met. We have consistently argued that not having cricket as a listed event puts it out of the reach of all terrestrial broadcasters. That’s the ECB’s choice and they are entitled to it, but it’s absurd to blame the BBC for this outcome.”At the weekend, Scyld Berry, the editor of Wisden, wrote in the Daily Telegraph: “Children in far more than half the households in this country will grow up without ever having seen [Andrew] Flintoff, or any other England cricketer, perform live. (And so uncool is it to watch highlights that fewer than a million watch those on [Channel 5]). How can any sport prosper when its role-models perform in purdah? No doubt the ECB will blame the BBC for not making a substantial bid. But the game’s authorities should negotiate the best bid, not the biggest.”The new Sky deal will include the Stanford quadrangular Twenty20 tournament in England as well as the EPL when it starts in 2010.At the same time Five have agreed a deal for a highlights package to be screened at 7.15-8pm. There will also be, for the first time, Welsh language television coverage of five matches involving Glamorgan on S4C with five matches plus the Welsh Village Cup.

It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster year for Phil Salt. After breaking his foot in a freak cycling accident before the start of the County Championship, he made the most of his brief opportunity to play for England for the first time over the summer. The powerful opening batter, however ended the 2021 domestic season without playing a red-ball game, before leaving Sussex to join Lancashire.Now with successive knocks of 63* off 28 and 56 off 23 for Team Abu Dhabi, Salt is finishing off his campaign in style, showcasing his fearlessness and class at the top of the order.After a player-of-the-match performance against the Chennai Braves on Monday, again Salt was the star for Liam Livingstone’s side as they pulled off another last-ball win.Chasing 122 against Delhi Bulls, he helped set the platform with an innings that included three fours and five sixes, before Jamie Overton, with 20 off five, smashed Dwayne Bravo for two sixes from the last two deliveries to make it five wins out of five for the Abu Dhabi outfit.In a side filled with renowned hitters like Livingstone, Chris Gayle and Paul Stirling, Salt has been the top scorer thus far for Team Abu Dhabi with 157 runs in five T10 innings, hitting 11 fours and 13 sixes, and striking at rate of 200+.Salt described the mood in the Team Abu Dhabi camp as “brilliant”.”We’ve got coaches that back us to the hilt and we’ve got a great group of lads that also back each other to the hilt, so as a player there’s not much more you can ask for,” Salt said.He and skipper Livingstone had got the equation down to 37 off 18, before both were dismissed by Dominic Drakes. Yet, such is the depth of their batting line-up, that it was left to none other than Gayle and Overton to take them home.No side had chased 18 in the final over of a T10 game, and when Gayle was run out with ten needed off two, it looked like it would be a first defeat for Team Abu Dhabi.But Overton ensured that their unbeaten run went on, by slogging Bravo over the sight screen then dispatching a slower ball over long-on for six more. He even had Gayle jumping out of his seat at the end.”If I was to get greedy, I’d say that I wanted to be out there at the end tonight, but I had to take the punt I did when I took it and Jama [Overton] played a great knock and won us the game,” said Salt.Paul Farbrace spoke earlier in the week about how far Salt’s keeping had come after working with Sarah Taylor, and Overton mentioned how well Salt has been striking the ball in the nets. “To be honest, the first net session I bowled to Phil I was like, ‘jeez, this guys in serious form’,” Overton said.The 25-year-old Salt joined Lancashire at the end of the season but his former Sussex teammate, Luke Wright, was full of praise for the man with whom he opened the batting at Hove. Unfortunately for Wright, making his first appearance since Finals Day, he was on the other end of a scintillating knock from Salt at the Zayed Cricket Ground.”I picked him out of the academy to come and open the batting with me years and years ago, so it’s great to see him develop the way he has and obviously he’s added the keeping to his game,” Wright said. “He’s hugely dangerous and he can strike sixes from ball one.”In this format of the game, if you don’t get it right, he’s going to punish you. It’s nice to see him continue developing. We were sad to see him leave Sussex obviously, but he’s a good player and hopefully one day he’ll be playing for England.”Salt’s appearances for England so far have been limited to three ODIs after a covid outbreak meant that a replacement squad had to be called up in the summer for the series against Pakistan and his brutal half-century at Lord’s, which included ten boundaries, was good enough to pass a Jason Roy impression contest.England’s white-ball depth is such that the line of top-order batters is long and filled with talent such as Roy, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow, but Salt is doing a fine job of showing he is ready to seize another opportunity, if it comes along.

Eoin Morgan, the England captain, admits that his satisfaction at an otherwise emphatic victory over Bangladesh in the opening match of the Champions Trophy has been tempered by a side strain sustained by Chris Woakes, which threatens to rule him out for the rest of the tournament.Woakes had come into the match nursing a tight quad that led to his omission from the final two matches of England’s recent ODI series against South Africa, but he looked in fine fettle as he opened the campaign with a maiden to Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal.However, he bowled just one more over in his spell before leaving the field for treatment. He will undergo a scan on his left side this evening, but Morgan is already braced for bad news from England’s medical team.”He’s obviously been very impressive for us over the last couple of years, and a mainstay, a very reliable guy,” Morgan said. “And it is a worry when he goes off the field and can’t come back on and bowl.”Though it is too early to say how the injury will impact on Woakes’ involvement either in the remainder of this match, or England’s subsequent group games against New Zealand on June 6 and Australia on June 10, side strains are notoriously difficult injuries for fast bowlers to shake off.A typical recovery can take between four and six weeks, especially if the injury involves damage to the intercostal muscles, because even when fully recovered, fast bowlers in particular find it hard to hit the crease with their usual aggression, for fear of suffering a relapse.Were that the case, it would rule Woakes out of the entire tournament, and leave him in some doubt for the start of England’s Test series against South Africa as well, which gets underway at Lord’s on July 6.”Side strains are a big confidence thing, aren’t they?” said Morgan. “Yeah, he would definitely be a loss if he couldn’t play.”Morgan denied, however, that Woakes had suffered for being rushed back into action before he was fully recovered from his quad niggle. “He was chomping at the bit to play,” he said. “If we rushed him, he might have played the last game of the one-day series but we didn’t want to rush him.”Woakes’ injury isn’t the only issue undermining England’s previously settled Champions Trophy squad. Ben Stokes came into the match nursing a knee injury that limited his ability to bowl in the South Africa series – although he showed no signs of discomfort in his seven overs today – while Joe Root also picked up a calf injury in the course of his match-winning 133 not out.”Joe is all right,” Morgan said. “He wasn’t in extreme pain. It was manageable, so given that we have four days between now and the next game, hopefully he’ll rest up well and be fully fit.”The size of England’s victory masked a few concerns beyond the fitness issues. Jason Roy endured another day to forget, making just 1 from 7 balls to extend his fallow run at the top of the order, while Jake Ball, surprisingly included in place of the legspinner Adil Rashid, struggled for consistency as his ten overs were dispatched for 82 runs.However, Morgan reiterated his unequivocal support for Roy, adding that he had been unlucky to fall to an impressive catch at short backward square leg from Mustafizur Rahman.”It was quite smart, bowling a slower bowl from the opening bowler, and brave,” Morgan said. “It was a big gamble. But that sort of stuff can happen. You can get out in that sort of fashion when you’re short on runs. But yeah, certainly we believe in him.”On the subject of Rashid’s omission – which seemed to go against the team ethos of selection continuity – Morgan insisted there were two separate issues to consider.”We felt Bangladesh probably would have preferred to play against a lot more spin, as opposed to four quicks, and obviously Ben [Stokes]. So that contributed to how we wanted to balance the side and how we saw them playing. Their top three batters are lefties, and the possibility of getting Joe [Root] or Mo [Ali] on early was an option.”With the batting, obviously you can’t ask guys to go out and play positive cricket and whack it everywhere – there’s an element, a high-risk element – and then drop them as soon as they are lacking runs. On previous teams, that has happened and we don’t want it to happen.”We want to reinforce confidence so the guys can go out and we can make 300 an easy score to get, by playing real positive cricket. And contributing to that, both as a captain and coach, and selectors, by backing your own players up.”

Dillon du Preez returned figures of 4 for 31 as the Knights beat Dolphins by one wicket in the final over to seal a qualifier spot in the Momentum One-Day Cup. After Dolphins chose to bat in a virtual eliminator, they were put under pressure from the start, slipping to 54 for 4. The early damage meant even a 50-run fifth-wicket partnership between Sarel Erwee and Andile Phehlukwayo, and useful contributions lower down the order, could only take the Dolphins to 204.In response, Knights got off to a steady start, openers Rudi Second and Tumelo Bodibe putting on 61 in 13 overs. However, in the collapse that ensued five wickets fell inside 12 runs. Imran Tahir inflicted most of the damage, removing David Miller for a first-ball duck. Pite van Biljon (44) and Aubrey Swanepoel (42) steadied Knights with a 56-run partnership for the sixth wicket, but after Phehlukwayo bowled du Preez with Knights requiring 25 to win, it needed Marchant de Lange and Sammy Mofokeng to take their side through. They combined for an unbeaten 27 runs for the tenth wicket to lead Knights to a four-ball win.Table toppers Titans sealed a home final with a demolition of Cape Cobras at SuperSport Park. Opening bowlers Chris Morris and Lungi Ngidi put the Cobras on the back foot right away as the pair shared three wickets for 41 runs in their combined 16 overs. The 184 Cobras were bowled out for, after languishing at 30 for 4, was courtesy a half-century from Aviwe Mgijima (52).The Titans chase was led by a 75-run stand between openers Jonathan Vandiar (72) and Aiden Markram in 11 overs. Even two wickets in three balls with the score on 100 – the second being AB de Villiers for a duck – didn’t bother Titans as they won by six wickets.In Port Elizabeth, Lions’ campaign ended with a whimper, as they lost by 36 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method to Warriors, who will play the qualifier against Knights. Warriors’ top wicket-taker this tournament JJ Smuts was the star performer again, taking 4 for 25 in ten overs to skittle the Lions – who lost their last eight wickets for 59 runs – for 154. No batsman outside the Lions top five managed to make double-digit scores.The Warriors were well on course to victory with a 93-run opening partnership between Smuts (51) and Gihahn Cloete (41), and were on top of the D/L equation – despite a flurry of four wickets – to complete a 36-run win when the rain arrived.