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Tahir takes 12 in Dolphins' thumping win

Sunfoil Series, South African Domestic Season 2015, Cricket

Dolphins 306 (Smit 123*, du Preez 3-40) and 106 (Budaza 4-31) beat Knights 257 (Second 122, Coetsee 51, Maharaj 5-41, Tahir 4-91) and 92 (Hendricks 57, Tahir 8-42) by 63 runs
Scorecard

Imran Tahir's 8 for 42 set up a 63-run win for the Dolphins as Knights were skittled out for 92. Tahir's eight-for added to returns of 4 for 91 in the first innings, taking his match tally to 12 wickets.

Knights lasted only 37 overs in chase of 156, as Tahir cut through the batting line-up. Opener Reeza Hendricks played a lone hand with a knock of 57, in an innings where the next best was 18. Only two other batsmen managed double-figure scores.

Knights had lost opener Rudi Second to Keshav Maharaj - who took seven wickets in the match - in the first over before Tahir took four wickets in three overs to reduce Knights to 39 for 5, a position from which they did not recover.

Tahir had played a good turn with the bat too, contributing to a tenth-wicket stand of 74 with wicketkeeper Daryn Smit during Dolphins' first innings, after they had opted to bat. The partnership lifted Dolphins from 232 for 9 to 306, and Smit finished unbeaten with a solid 123, having anchored the side after they were struggling at 89 for 5 early on.

Knights' response to that total was built around Second's 122 and captain Werner Coetsee's 51. The rest of the line-up was held in check by Maharaj's 5 for 41 and Tahir's four-for. Knights, however, clawed back, bowling Dolphins out for 106 to keep their lead to 155. Fast bowlers Duanne Olivier and Mbulelo Budaza took 3 for 31 and 4 for 31 respectively to spearhead that effort, before their batsmen collapsed in the fourth innings.

Titans 362 (de Kock 117, Morris 86, Williams 4-47) and 66 for 0 beat Cape Cobras 107 (Ontong 36*, Shamsi 5-22) and 320 (Puttick 92, Vilas 69*, Shamsi 7-63) by ten wickets
Scorecard

Left-arm chinaman Tabraiz Shamsi's match haul of 12 wickets set up Titans' ten-wicket win over Cape Cobras in the Sunfoil Series.

Shamsi's 5 for 22 had helped bundle Cape Cobras out for 107 in their first innings leaving Titans with a first-innings lead of 255. Once the follow-on was enforced, Shamsi's 7 for 63 limited the opposition to 320, leaving Titans with a target of 66 to win, which they achieved in 6.4 overs.

Another key effort for Titans came from Quinton de Kock, who scored 117 in the first innings to revive the side from a floundering 171 for 6 to 362, after they had opted to bat. De Kock's knock came off 133 deliveries and included 14 fours and three sixes, and it was his seventh-wicket partnership of 153 with Chris Morris (86) that guided Titans past the 300 run-mark.

In reply, Cape Cobras were undone by a batting collapse that saw them crumble to 107 all out. Morris struck with key top-order wickets in his returns of 3 for 13 while Shamsi hastened the end by cleaning out the lower order. Cape Cobras' last eight wickets fell for a mere 45 runs.

Their response after they were asked to follow-on was much better, led by fifties from opener Andrew Puttick (92) and wicketkeeper Dane Vilas (69*). Vilas, in particular, helped ensure the side averted an innings defeat, adding 77 for the last wicket with No. 11 Lizaad Williams.

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