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Symes blitz steers Lions home

Kimberley - Jean Symes thumped four sixes off six balls at the death as the Highveld Lions sealed a four-wicket win over the Knights here on Tuesday evening.

The Lions, who needed 144 for victory, chased down their target with five balls to spare to stretch their runaway lead at the top of the Ram Slam T20 Challenge table.

With the visitors needing 24 runs off the last two overs, Symes, who made an unbeaten 31 runs off 17 deliveries, cleared the boundary three times in the penultimate over, and hit another six off Malusi Siboto's first ball in the final over to secure the win.

Full scorecard

Opener Quinton de Kock made 42 runs off 33-balls and Lions captain Alviro Petersen hit 36 from 34 to lay the foundation, with Sohail Tanvir adding 18 off 15 to keep up with the the required run-rate in the closing stages.

The Knights' bowlers performed well, led by Jandre Coetzee who took two for 20 from his four overs, but Symes snatched the game from their grasp.

Earlier, Rilee Rossouw smashed 76 runs off 47 balls, including seven fours and four sixes, paving the way as the Knights reached 143 for eight after they won the toss and chose to bat.

With fellow opener Loots Bosman contributing only five in their 44-run opening stand, Rossouw took control before he holed out to veteran Neil McKenzie in the 15th over.

Hardus Viljoen, who removed Rossouw and Pite van Biljon with successive deliveries, fellow paceman Chris Morris and spinner Imran Tahir bagged two wickets each, combining well with Sohail Tanvir to restrict the hosts to only 25 runs in their last five overs.

Teams:

Knights:

Loots Bosman, Rilee Rossouw, Dean Elgar, Johan van der Wath, Gihann Cloete, Pite van Biljon, Obus Pienaar, Nicky Boje, Jandre Cloete, Malusi Siboto, Shadley van Schalkwyk.

Lions:

Quinton de Kock, Gulam Bodi, Alviro Petersen, Neil McKenzie, Sohail Tanvir, Jean Symes, Dwaine Pretorius, Chris Morris, Imran Tahir, Aaron Phangiso, Hardus Viljoen.

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