By Kenneth Davison

As I write, there are a few people who will be organising the MTN40 final. This weekend was the semi final round which resulted in the two teams that topped the group stages crashing out.

The first semi final on Friday night was between the Warriors and the Cobras. This game, to me, was going to be the exciting semi final as I had largely written off the Dolphins, which led to me being a little surprised yesterday.

The Cobras were positioned second on the table with the Warriors third. However, the Cobras came into the game with their big guns by way of Mr. Smith, Gibbs, Kemp etc. Certainly the Cobras batting line up was a strong one and the Warriors knew this. Luckily, the Warriors were also boosted by their international players like Kallis, who used to play for the Cobras before fallout with Shukri Conrad, Boucher, Ntini and Parnell.

So to me it was a match up of one of the best batting units in the country with one of the best bowling units. The Warriors also have Johan Botha, known for his chucking, and Rusty Theron, a very accomplished bowler.

The Warriors batted first and got to 270 plus. I have to say, this is what I have loved about the MTN40. It is only 40 overs but so many games have seen teams scoring almost 300 runs and most of the games have been close or competitive. A great sign of cricket in this country and more people should go and watch. It is more exciting that Bell and Collingwood on day five of a test match, but that isn’t saying much.

274 was a good total but the Cobras needed a solid start and boy, did they not get it. Smith went cheaply. This was always going to slow the cobras as he is such an important player, as we all know from international games. “If Smith struggles, the team struggles” is so often true. The Cobras put in a great effort but fell just short against a very strong Warriors bowling line up. But what a great game it was.

And imagine my surprise when I received a sms saying that the dolphins had won. At first I thought it was a joke as the Titans are way stronger than the Dolphins. The TV let me down by confirming that the Dolphins had won, and apparently a thriller of a game. I was reminded of a little lesson which every cricketer knows but often forgets; anything can happen in cricket. It’s what you do on the day that counts, not what is written on the paper.

So this weekend is the MTN40 final, Warriors versus the Dolphins. I am not writing off the Dolphins this time, this is a final. Any team playing in a final is not a muppet team that relies very heavily on luck. I would like to encourage everyone to watch this game, as the games have all been so exciting while both these teams provided entertaining semi final games. So I would expect the final to also be very entertaining and come right down to the wire.

The final is on Friday 29 Januray 2010, being played at Buffalo Park in East London and will be a day night game. This promises to be a grand end to a very successful tournament.