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Titans Stun Lions As Play-Off Race Remains Open

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CENTURION: A scrambled final-ball single helped the Momentum Multiply Titans steal a thrilling derby win over log-leaders DP World Lions and ensure the race for the Cricket South Africa (CSA) T20 Challenge play-offs goes down to the wire after wins for Hollywoodbets Dolphins and World Sports Betting Western Province on Friday.

Dafabet Warriors, who were the stand-out team for most of the competition thus far, also blew their chance of moving back to the top of the table when they suffered a third straight loss – this time against Auto Investments North West Dragons.

But the big result of the evening came at SuperSport Park where the hosts claimed a 2-wicket victory over their cross Jukskei rivals, who missed the chance of confirming home advantage in the last four.

In a tight affair, the Titans won the toss, bowled first and restricted the Lions to 154/8 thanks in the main to David Wiese (1/22), Lungi Ngidi (2/26) and Dayyaan Galiem (1/20).

Reeza Hendricks (48) top-scored for the visitors, who also had 20s from Proteas captain Temba Bavuma, Delano Potgieter (both 21) and Wiaan Mulder (25).

The Titans made a bright start to the chase after openers Rivaldo Moonsamy (24) and Lhuan-dre Pretorius (29) put on 49 in 5.5 overs, but they then lost their way when Codi Yusuf (1/25), Evan Jones (2/33), Mulder (1/24) and impressive rookie Nqaba Peter (2/29) all struck.

That left the defending champions heading for defeat at 135/8 with two overs to go.

However, Corbin Bosch (19*) and Lungi Ngidi (2*) managed to get the 20 required, including the former stealing a bye from the last ball to take the hosts to a priceless win, one that helped them cling on to fourth place on the table.

Province remained hot on their heels in the play-off race after they crushed the Gbets Rocks by 63 runs in their own Cape derby at Boland Park in Paarl.

Kyle Verreynne (77* off 42 balls, 5 fours, 5 sixes) starred with the bat for the Cape Town side as they posted 173/4 after winning the toss and batting.

Beuran Hendricks (3/18) and Onke Nyaku (3/27) then grabbed three wickets apiece to blow away the Boland side for 110 in 17.4 overs.

In KwaZulu-Natal, meanwhile, the Dolphins kept their chances of a home semi-final alive by also claiming a crushing derby win at Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium in Durban. They thumped AET Tuskers by eight wickets thanks to seven wickets shared between Okuhle Cele and Andile Simelane.

The former was outstanding on his way to a wonderful career-best return of 4/13 in 3.3 overs, while the latter produced figures of 4-1-21-3 – the pair skittling their rivals from Pietermaritzburg for just 108 in 18.3 overs.

Jon-Jon Smuts (49*) and Grant Roelofsen (23) then did the bulk of the scoring to help the Dolphins chase down the target with 5.5 overs to spare.

Finally in Potchefstroom, a strong all-round performance from the Dragons helped them overcome the Warriors by six wickets at JB Marks Oval.

Batting first after losing the toss, the visitors were kept to 145/7 with two wickets each by Gideon Peters (2/28) and Kerwin Mungroo (2/29).

Matthew Breetzke (45) top-scored for the Warriors, before Meeka-Eel Prince (22), Raynard van Tonder (31) and Wihan Lubbe (39*) all played key hands in the chase as the home side won with nine balls to spare.

Source: cricket.co.za

Kevin Pietersen: With an HPI of 19.94, Kevin Pietersen is the 4th most famous South African Cricketer. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Kevin Peter Pietersen (born 27 June 1980) is an English cricket commentator, conservationist, and former England international captain. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who played in all three formats for England between 2005 and 2014, which included a brief tenure as captain. He won the Player of the Series award for his heroics in 2010 ICC World Twenty20 and for helping the England Cricket Team win their maiden ICC trophy. Pietersen was born to an Afrikaner father and English mother in South Africa. He made his first-class debut for Natal in 1997 and moved to England in 2000, after voicing his displeasure at what he said was the racial quota system in South African cricket. Being of English ancestry, Pietersen was eligible for the England team so long as he first served a four-year qualifying period in English county cricket. He was called up by England almost immediately after he completed four years with Nottinghamshire. He made his international debut in the One Day International (ODI) match against Zimbabwe in 2004 and his Test match debut in the 2005 Ashes series against Australia.Pietersen left Nottinghamshire for Hampshire in 2005, but the England team’s subsequent reliance on him resulted in Pietersen making only a single first-class appearance for his new county between 2005 and 2010. In June 2010, Pietersen announced his wish to leave Hampshire; he joined Surrey on loan for the remainder of the season, then moved permanently in 2011.Pietersen was captain of the England Test and ODI teams from 4 August 2008 to 7 January 2009, but resigned after just three Tests and nine ODIs following a dispute with the England coach Peter Moores, who was sacked the same day. Pietersen’s relationship with the ECB never fully recovered. This came to a head in 2012 when, after a disagreement over his schedule, Pietersen announced his retirement from all forms of international limited-overs cricket on 31 May. Although he later retracted his retirement, his relationship with both the ECB and his team-mates soured during the series against South Africa, and he was dropped for the final Test of that series. Pietersen last played for England in the 2013–14 Ashes and subsequent ODIs, after which he was informed that he was no longer being considered for international selection. He also played for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League until the end of BBL|07 (seventh season), the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League as well as the Hollywoodbets Dolphins in the CSA T20 Challenge. He was also signed by the Rising Pune Supergiants for the 2016 season of the Indian Premier League. Pietersen is one of the fastest batsman to reach 1,000 ODI runs and still holds the record for being the fastest player to cross 2,000 runs in One Day International cricket. He has the second-highest run total from his first 25 Tests, behind only Sir Don Bradman of Australia, and was the fastest player, in terms of days, to reach 4,000, 5,000 and 7,000 Test runs. He became only the third English batsman to top the ICC One Day International rankings, doing so in March 2007. In July 2008, after a century against South Africa, The Times called him “the most complete batsman in cricket” and in 2012 The Guardian called him “England’s greatest modern batsman”. On the occasion of England’s 1000th Test in August 2018, he was named in the country’s greatest Test XI by the ECB.

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