Johannesburg - Ricarhd Levi blitzed the fastest century in the history of South African domestic limited overs cricket at the Wanderers Stadium to hand the Cobras a 72-run victory in their 1 Day Cup match over the Highveld Lions.

Full scorecard

The men from the Cape posted a mammoth 379 for seven in their 50 overs, while the the Lions could only muster 307 all out in 48.5 overs.

Levi was called up for the T20 squad to play Australia although he did not get game time the Cobras' opening batsman showed that his power hitting up front is equally applicable to the 50 overs format.

Levi reached his century off only 53 balls, eclipsing the previous best of 56 deliveries scored by Vaughn van Jaarsveld for the Lions against the Dolphins in the 2008/09 season and finished on 110 (57 balls, 8 fours and 10 sixes) - sharing a Cobras first wicket record stand of 176 with Andrew Puttick that put the game beyond the Lions.

Puttick also scored a century as did Neil McKenzie for the Lions but these were run-a-ball efforts and it was Levi who put daylight between the two sides.

The Lions must be seriously concerned about their bowling attack which would have conceded well over 300 runs had they bowled their full 50 overs against the Titans on Wednesday evening and left themselves with a target of 380 in this game. It meant they had to make 304 just to stop the Cobras getting a bonus point.

They just made this lesser target thanks to some lusty hitting at the death from Cliffe Deacon (55 off 25 balls, 1 four and 5 sixes). This included three successive sixes off Robin Peterson.

Having said that, nothing can detract from Levi’s innings. His leg-side hitting was reminiscent of Adrian Kuiper and Hansie Cronje. The biggest compliment one can pay him is that he even put Herschelle Gibbs in the shade!

The Cobras' total eclipsed the previous record of 378/5 - set by Transvaal against Griquas in 1994/95, and the highest franchise total, beating the 359 the Knights made against the Warriors in 2008/09.

Teams:

Highveld Lions: Gulam Bodi, Alviro Peterson (captain), Jonathan Vandiar, Neil McKenzie, Zander de Bruyn, Jean Symes, Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Cliffe Deacon, Aaron Phangiso, Ethan O’Reilly, Craig Alexander.

Cape Cobras: Andrew Puttick, Richard Levi, Herschelle Gibbs, Justin Ontong, Owais Shah, Dane Vilas (wicketkeeper), Justin Kemp (captain), Robin Peterson, Johann Louw, Rory Kleinveldt, Charl Langeveldt.