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Cape Town - A maiden career century by Patrick Kruger was not enough to end the winless One-Day Cup start of the Knights as they slumped to a heavy eight-wicket bonus-point defeat to the Cape Cobras in Cape Town on Wednesday.
The young right-hander struck an unbeaten 110 (110 balls, 9 fours, 4 sixes) as the visitors totalled a modest 239 for nine.
JP Duminy then set Newlands alight with a dazzling unbeaten 70 (37 balls, 2 fours, 7 sixes), which included taking a record 37 from an Eddie Leie over that went 6-6-6-6-2-5nb-6.
It was an astounding end to the game and secured a result that helped the Cobras climb to second on the table behind the Titans.
The Knights, meanwhile, remained rooted to the bottom of the table without a win in six matches of the 2017/18 season.
Despite winning the toss, they struggled from the start by slipping to 28 for two and then 75 for five as Rory Kleinveldt (2/22) and George Linde (2/37) bagged two wickets apiece.
It was left to Kruger to produce a rescue act as he beat his previous best score of 71 playing for Griquas against Border in 2014/15 by recording a maiden List A ton.
However, the home side were in no mood for an upset. They were given a flying start by Temba Bavuma, who made 65 (74 balls, 8 fours) and Pieter Malan (42) – the pair putting on 80 for the first wicket.
It was then the Duminy show as he smashed the ball to all parts and received good support from Simon Khomari, who made an unbeaten 65 (59 balls, 10 fours) as they hammed the Cobras to victory.
Their stand in the end was worth an unbroken 99 for the third wicket, which came from only 10.3 overs.
Leie’s figures of one for 90 in seven overs were the worst in franchise history, surpassing the none for 88 by a young Kagiso Rabada for the Lions against the Cape Cobras at Paarl in 2014/15.
