Cape Town - Marchant de Lange claimed six wickets as the Knights made it two Sunfoil Series wins from two with a commanding 175-run win over the Cape Cobras at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Friday.
The Proteas fast bowler finished with 6/61 in an excellent spell of 18 overs as the visitors were bowled out for 268.
However, De Lange was not the only man to perform on the final day.
There was also an explosive unbeaten 100 (88 balls, 17 fours, 1 six) from Jason Smith, the promising young all-rounder who has been tipped for big things.
It was the first three-figure score of his brief franchise career and came three days after his 22nd birthday as the Cobras had something to smile about from what has otherwise been a disappointing start to the season.
They had started out the day on 127/2 and needing a further 317 to achieve the victory target of 444.
But six runs into the morning, they lost key man Stiaan van Zyl (5) to De Lange, while the set Zubayr Hamza (68 off 94 balls, 12 fours) fell after adding just 16 to his overnight score. There was little else that came from Cape side’s batsmen, bar Smith’s magnificence, as the Cobras were all out in 59.4 overs.
Mbulelo Budaza bagged 2/23 and Shadley van Schalkwyk 2/36 as the Knights picked up 18.84 points for their win.
The visitors, meanwhile, took away 6.82 points after a second successive loss of the campaign.