Cape Town — If the Knights don’t see Tony de Zorzi’s flowing blade for the rest of the season it will be too soon.
Fresh from a record 304 not out at Newlands last week, De Zorzi struck another brilliant 133 from just 118 deliveries with 14 fours and two sixes against the men from Bloemfontein in the Cricket SA One-Day Cup clash on Wednesday.
De Zorzi’s fourth List A century, along with his Western Province opening partner Jonathan Bird’s 86 from 98 balls (6x4, 2x6) that formed part of a record 208-run opening stand, and George Linde’s 70 off only 34 balls (6x4, 5x6) powered Province to a mammoth 366/7.
The Knights are in a midst of a crisis, languishing last on the CSA 4-day table and also suffering a heavy first defeat in the one-day competition to North West last weekend.
The home team were simply never in the hunt to chase down WP’s imposing total, and it was virtually game, set and match when the players were hauled off the field due to a thunderstorm with the Knights precariously placed at 32/3 after the first six overs.
Province’s major concern at that stage was whether they could actually get back on the field to complete 20 overs which would constitute a match.
Fortunately for the visitors, the players were able to get back on the Mangaung Oval with the Knights target reduced to 337 due to the Duckworth/Lewis method.
However, Linde (3/35) continued where he left off after the break adding the third scalp of Isaac Dikgale (19) to previous two of Jacques Snyman (16) and Rynard van Tonder (0).
Fellow spinner Junaid Dawood then continued the carnage with the leggie also picking up three wickets for 38 runs, while Province captain Wayne Parnell also made a positive return to the team after his stint in Abu Dhabi with two wickets as the Knights folded for 160 in just 26.5 overs.
Only Patrick Botha (45) and Migael Pretorius (33) made any impact on the scoreboard for the Knights.
Province, fresh off two wins in the One-Day Cup, now return home for this weekend's double-header against North West (Friday) and the Titans on Sunday.
The North West match on Friday has been converted into a day game with a 10am start instead of the original day-night fixture due to loadshedding.
Scorecard
Western Province: 366/7 (De Zorzi 133, Bird 86, Linde 70)
Knights: 160 all out (Botha 45, Pretorius 33, Linde 3/35, Dawood 3/38, Parnell 2/15)
WP won by 178 runs (D/L method)
IOL Sport