De Bruyn, Miller guide Knights to comfortable win

Half centuries by Theunis de Bruyn and David Miller helped Knights sail to a comfortable 8-wicket win over Warriors in the opening game of the CSA T20 challenge. The duo combined to add an unbeaten 142-run stand in only 14.3 overs after the openers departed early.

Winning the toss, de Bruyn elected to field. Warriors got off to a steady start, but the two openers fell in successive overs, which began a collapse. Shadley van Schalkwyk struck thrice in quick succession to reduce the hosts from 39 for no loss to 69 for 5 in a period of 39 balls.

The middle overs severely dented Warriors innings, wherein they not only lost wickets but also scored runs at less than five an over. It was only Christiaan Jonker's blazing innings which stood out and helped power Warriors to a respectable score of 153 for 9.

His 38-ball 61 included four boundaries and as many sixes, which was supported by a run-a-ball 16 from Solo Nqweni. Barring the two and the openers, none of the other batsmen managed to reach double digits nor score at a respectable rate.

Ryan McLaren proved costly, conceding 44 runs in his four-over spell, but that was largely and solely duo to Jonker's assault.

Aubrey Swanepoel, who had dismissed JJ Smuts earlier in the day, was tonked for two boundaries and two sixes by Jonker off four consecutive balls in the 18th over, spoiling his figures and ending it with 37 for 1 in four overs.

Eddie Leie was the most impressive bowler, finishing with figures of two for 16, while Marchant de Lange's superb bowling in the death also helped matters for the visitors.

Chasing 154 to win, Knights began cautiously. Warriors' new ball pair Andrew Birch and Basheeru-Deen Walters struck early and dismissed both the openers within the first four overs, with only 15 runs on the board. However, skipper de Bruyn and senior batsman David Miller combined to resurrect the innings patiently before going on a late assault.

De Bruyn struck six sixes and three boundaries in his unbeaten 48-ball 78, while Miller went a little slower with a 47-ball 62.

They were scoring at almost run-a-ball till the 13th over, before Knights shifted gears. De Bruyn tonked Colin Ackermann for three sixes in the 14th over to get the acceleration going.

He followed that approach with Walters a couple of overs later as he hit him over the boundary twice. Miller's assault wasn't as harsh, but the hard-hitting southpaw still did well to bring down the required runs at a brisk pace.

The duo shared the roles in the 18th over and smacked Birch for 19 to finish off the requirements. Miller started off the over with a boundary and a six, and de Bruyn finished it off with a couple of fours to take them home with two overs to spare.

Brief Scores: Warriors 153 for 9 in 20 overs (Christiaan Jonker 61, Solo Nqweni 16; Shadley van Schalkwyk 3-25, Eddie Leie 2-16) beat Knights 157/2 in 18 overs (Theunis de Bruyn 78*, David Miller 62*; Basheeru-Deen Walters 1-30, Andrew Birch 1-37) by 8 wickets