Fifteen minutes remain before the first ball is due to be bowled. I’m sitting at Rondebosch station, waiting for a train to Newlands, where the Cobras are all set to take on the Eagles. A voice on the platform loudspeaker crackles something about the train being delayed – great. I pull out my phone, fire up Opera Mini and log in to my Pro20 live blogging account, just to make sure it’s working. It is – ready and waiting for my deluge of live updates from the game. The train eventually squeals in and I make it to the ground with three minutes to spare…

Seat with a clear view of the scoreboard – check. Thumbs ready for three hours of continuous use – check. Phone with a full battery – check. A cold beer on the chair next to me – check. I’m ready, the players are ready, the crowd is ready – game on!

One of the season’s top bowlers, Charl Langeveldt bangs in a couple of warm-up deliveries and it’s not long before he claims the first wicket. My thumbs dance around my phone’s keypad and in a couple of minutes the first post from the game is live at http://blog.standardbankpro20.co.za. I wonder to myself how many people are following the game via the blog, which is just one aspect of Standard Bank’s admirable efforts at leveraging social media platforms to maximise interest in the Pro20 Series.

The Eagles crawl along at a snail’s pace, losing three wickets and dawdling their way to 90 after 17 overs. I’m busy tapping out my third post for the innings, when I hear the crowd erupt in anticipation. I look up – an Eagles batsman has smashed the ball high into the evening sky and it’s heading straight for someone in the crowd. That someone is ME. I jump hurriedly to my feet, mutter a choice expletive or three, stretch out one hand (my phone was in the other) and catch nothing more than thousands of disapproving looks when I fail to hold on to a catch that would have netted me R1 000 and instant you’re-so-cool-right-now status with the pack of pretty girls behind me. I like to believe that I bravely saved the life of one of those girls – had my fingers not valiantly deflected the ball, it would have been certain death for her.

Suitably embarrassed, I sit down again and tap out a post about my misfortune and missed fortune. I don’t have too much time to sit and sulk, though, because Langeveldt is picking up wickets at quite some rate of knots, narrowly missing a hat-trick but dismissing three Eeagles batsmen with the score on Nelson (111).

The innings ends with the Eagles on 127 for 7, and I decide now would be a good time to pick up a boerie roll and find a different seat, away from the unnerving even-my-blind-granny-would-have-caught-that looks I’d been getting for the rest of the innings.

Boerie demolished and new seat claimed, I’m ready for the second innings, and so are my thumbs. The Cobras don’t seem particularly pressured to get going, and they amble along to 9 for 1 after 3 overs. The crowd are enjoying a jovial evening of fun-filled Pro20 cricket, which always seems to suitably entertain the littlies right through to the oldies.

The Cobras then get stuck into the run chase, but it doesn’t turn out quite as well as they’d hoped for – with no less than 6 wickets down with the score on 101. If they’d had a good few couple of overs left to get the remaining 27 runs, the mood wouldn’t have been quite so tense – but with just 33 balls and 4 wickets in reserve, the game was heading for a tight finish. I feverishly tap out another post and within minutes it’s live on the blog for anyone and everyone to read.

The overs tick away and it’s not long before the suspense in the air begins to feel tangible as the Cobras reach the last 2 overs of their innings needing 12 runs – and with only 2 wickets in hand, this was turning into a nail-biter beyond compare. I hurriedly try to get another post up, trying to make sure I watch every delivery – don’t want to be taken by surprise if another catch chance comes my way!

Eventually the Cobras break the tension, much to the satisfaction of the home crowd, by winning the game in last over. “Close” is an understatement, and with no wickets in hand the Cobras’ nerves must have been frayed to the max. Nevertheless, they snatched the win and a place in the semi-finals the following week.

I tap out the last post for the evening as the crowd filters out of the ground. It’s been another gripping evening of swift Pro20 cricket, and – although my thumbs are starting to complain – I’ve thoroughly enjoyed live blogging the game. I just wish I’d held onto that catch!