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World Sports Betting Western Province secured an important six-wicket triumph over the Knights in the final round-robin match of the CSA T20 Challenge at World Sports Betting Newlands on Friday evening.
The win, with seven balls to spare, moves the Cape side into fourth place on 15 points, three ahead of the Dafabet Warriors, who face-off against the Momentum Multiply Titans tomorrow. For WP to progress to the Eliminator, they will be hoping for the sky-blues of Jacaranda to win.
Having restricted the Knights to 157 for seven after winning the toss and electing to bowl first, the home side reached 163 for four with Eddie Moore and George Linde ending the match with a quick-fire unbroken stand of 29 from nine balls for the fifth wicket to seal the deal.
The hosts were looking extremely comfortable as Daniel Smith (57), Jonathan Bird (16) and Valentine Kitime (15) had left WP with just 65 to get from 52 balls. Smith, who struck nine boundaries from 33 balls, shared in an opening stand of 54 with Bird from 35 balls.
Bird struck two boundaries from his 17 balls but then edged Sithembile Langa (2.5-0-25-1) to Garnett Tarr behind the stumps. Kitime took some time to find his feet, also striking two boundaries from his 15 deliveries but then came dancing down the wicket to debutante Seth Flerdermaus (3-0-32-2) with Tarr whipping the bails off.
Madness overcame the home side, who started to look for reasons to throw away a dominant position as Smith, who had looked fluent all evening, carting the ball all around the park with ease, set off for a quick single and was run out at the striker’s end after an excellent pick up and throw from Lesego Senokwane in the covers.
However, Moore and Mihlali Mpongwana (22) calmed the situation down with a bright 42-run stand from 36 deliveries but then Tiaan van Vuuren took a good catch on the wide mid-wicket boundary as Mpongwana tried to launch Flerdermaus over the fence.
Linde, who struck one four and two sixes from five balls, aided Moore to see their side over the line and into a potential play-off spot. Moore, hero against the DP World Lions with an unbeaten 87 just two days ago, struck one four and a six from 23 balls to end unbeaten on 31, continue his form as the tournament’s leading run scorer.
Earlier, Jacques Snyman (28) and Tarr (15) had added 37 runs for the first wicket from 29 balls to give the Knights a solid start. It took a patient and well-crafted over from captain Beuran Hendricks (4-0-28-2) to work out the wicket of Tarr, bowling four dot-balls before having Tarr edging behind to Smith. The loss of Tarr’s wicket did not detract from the visitor’s efforts.
Snyman and Senokwane (25) continued the steady pace of a run-a-ball, as the second wicket realised 28 runs from 25 balls. Snyman, who had struck five boundaries from 21 balls, was then run out at the striker’s end after an excellent throw from Linde at long-off, saw Snyman short of his ground.
Senokwane, who was dropped by Kitime when on 18, fell shortly thereafter, driving a ball from spinner Kyle Simmonds (4-0-19-1) straight back to the bowler before Aubrey Swanepoel (1) edged Mthiwekhaya Nabe (2-0-15-1) to Smith behind the stumps.
Flerdermaus struck one almighty six from 12 balls but was cleaned-up by Wesley Bedja (4-0-34-2), who then had Patrick Botha (0) caught by Hendricks in the covers very next ball. All the while, Dian Forrester tried valiantly to up the run rate.
Forrester struck two fours and a six from 26 balls but was then caught and bowled by Hendricks, top-edging the left-arm seamer into the night sky. At 133 for seven, the visitors seemed as if they were going to fall well-short of the 150-run mark.
But Van Vuuren (15 not out) and captain Aaron Phangiso (13) not out, struck 24 runs from 13 balls to give their a side something to bowl at. Phangiso struck his first ball for six, then his second for four while Van Vuuren managed two boundaries from his 11 balls.
