Henry Davids cracked a breezy half-century as Cape Cobras registered an eight wicket victory over Victoria Bushrangers and set one foot into the semifinals of the Champions League Twenty20, in Bangalore on Saturday.
After a bomb scare delayed the start of the League B match by one hour and 40 minutes and reduced it to a 17-over-a-side affair, paceman Monde Zondeki (2/21) inflicted early blows to restrict Victoria to 125 for five.
The South African side, who carried forward two points from the group stage, then rode on an unbeaten 54-ball 69 by Davids to overhaul the target with one over to spare and bagged two points from their first encounter of Super Eight stage of the USD six million event.
The 29-year-old handled the Victoria attack with elan on a pitch where the Australian side struggled to score, as Davids struck seven fours and two sixes to take Cobras to 129 for two wickets.
Chasing the modest total, Cobras started on an attacking note with skipper Andrew Puttick (4) cracking a boundary off Shane Harwood in the first ball of the innings.
But, paceman Peter Siddle put the brakes immediately as Puttick mistimed a good length delivery and offered a easy catch to McDonald at mid-wicket.
The other opener Derek Brand, who scored 29 runs off just 15 runs with five boundaries in the first four overs, fell when Clint McKay's direct throw found him short of the crease in the fifth over.
Davids then paired up with Duminy, who also remained unbeaten on 18, as the duo added 88 runs for the unseparated third wicket to help Cobras overhaul the target.
Siddle (1 for 19) was the only Victorian bowler to claim a wicket.
Electing to bat, Victoria earlier got off to a disastrous start with Zondeki scalping both the openers Brad Hodge and Rob Quiney in the very first over.
Quiney (0) failed to negotiate a rising delivery and offered a skier to Vernon Philander at fine-leg region, while Hodge (0) returned in the third ball of the over, leaving the Australian side struggling at none for two wickets.
Victoria were exposed to their horror when paceman Rory Kleinveldt (1/27) joined the party by scalping Aiden Blizzard (22 off 16 balls) in the fourth over.
Blizzard, who was looking ominous after cracking four boundaries, was deceived by a slower full toss off Kleinveldt and ended up slicing it to Stiaan van Zyl at extra cover area.
David Hussey (19) fell prey to Jean-Paul Duminy cheaply as Victoria were struggling at 70 for four after 10 overs.
Skipper Cameron White (24) made some desperate effort to repair the innings with Andrew McDonald, but the partnership could add only 35 runs.
Towards the close of the innings, two unbeaten cameos by McDonald (29 off 22) and Matthew Wade (18 off 10) helped Victoria cross the 100-run mark.
Besides Zondeki and Kleinveldt, Duminy and Philander bagged one wicket each for Cape Cobras.
