Scoreboard
It was a bad result for the pool B Cobras who have yet to get off the mark after three matches.
They may well have to win all their remaining four matches to have a chance of reaching the semifinals. In their favour is the fact that three of these matches are at home. They face a key weekend as they play the Titans at Newlands on Friday and the Dolphins at Paarl on Sunday.
The Cobras, who won the toss, put a competitive total of 235/6 on the board thanks in the main to contributions from Andrew Puttick (71 off 76 balls) and Owais Shah (83 off 78 balls).
The Knights always seemed to have the runs chase under control after Rilee Rossouw had blasted 46 off 26 balls up front.
MTN man of the match Reeza Hendricks, who made 56 off 68 balls, shared important partnerships of 66 off 46 balls with Rossouw and then 84 off 79 balls with Adrian McLaren (55 off 51 balls).
The Cobras’ spinners did their best to strangle the innings with 20-year-old rookie Dane Piedt taking an outstanding 3/22 in 8 overs and veteran Claude Henderson 2/48, also in eight.
But the Knights were able to cash in when the seamers returned and, when Alan Kruger smashed three successive boundaries off Johann Louw the writing was well and truly on the wall.
The Knights needed 1 run off the last two overs and Kruger appropriately hit the winning boundary.
Scoreboard:
Toss: Cobras
Cape Cobras innings
A Puttick b Elgar 71
S van Zyl b du Preez 39
A Gray c van Schalkwyk b du Preez 2
O Shah c Kruger b Coetzee 83
J Kemp c Kruger b Coetzee 12
J Ontong c de Lange b Coetzee 19
R Levi not out 4
Extras (1b, 4w) 5
TOTAL (for 6 wickets; 40 overs) 235
Fall of wickets: 1/74, 2/78, 3/162, 4/196, 5/215, 6/235.
Bowling: Van der Wath 8-0-63-0 (1w), R McLaren 6-0-31-0, Du Preez 8-0-39-2 (1w), Van Schalkwyk 1-0-10-0, De Lange 6-0-27-0, Coetzee 8-0-50-3 (1w), Elgar 3-0-14-1 (1w).
Knights innings
M van Wyk lbw b Henderson 14
R Hendricks c and b Henderson 56
R Rossouw c Levi b Louw 46
R Bailey st Puttick b Piedt 9
D Elgar b Piedt 4
A McLaren c Van Zyl b Piedt 55
R McLaren not out 12
J van der Wath c Kemp b Gray 12
A Kruger not out 22
Extras (5lb, 4w) 9
TOTAL (for 7 wickets; 38.2 overs) 239
Fall of wickets: 1/15, 2/81, 3/92, 4/100, 5/184, 6/190, 7/206.
Bowling: Philander 5.2-0-40-0 (1w), Henderson 8-0-48-2, Kleinveldt 3-0-44-0 (1w), Louw 5-0-37-1, Piedt 8-0-22-3, Ontong 7-0-29-0 (1w), Gray 2-0-14-1 (1w).
Knights win by three wickets.
Teams
Chevrolet Knights – Morne van Wyk (capt, wk), Adrian McLaren, Reeza Hendricks, Rilee Rossouw, Ryan Bailey, Dean Elgar, Ryan McLaren, Alan Kruger, Johan van der Wath, Dillon du Preez, Con de Lange, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Jandre Coetzee.
Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras – Stiaan van Zyl, Andrew Puttick (wk), Alistair Gray, Owais Shah, Justin Ontong, Justin Kemp (capt), Richard Levi, Vernon Philander, Johann Louw, Rory Kleinveldt, Dane Piedt, Gurshwin Rabie, Claude Henderson.