Western Province won the Sportstrust Charity Cup match against the Rest of South Africa by 16 runs in a rain-interrupted, limited overs-match at Newlands on Monday night.
Western Province scored 155/5 in 30 overs before heavy showers chased the players off the field. The match was reduced to 24 overs and the target revised to 149 runs off 24 overs (according to the Duckworth/Lewis method of revising targets in adverse weather conditions). The Rest of South Africa was restricted to 132/7.
Lance Klusener (40 not out, 28b, 3×4, 3×6) was the best batsman for the visitors although Andrew Hall 27 (38b, 2×4) also threatened.
Graeme Smith (40, 73m, 44b, 7×4) and Jacques Kallis (64, 118m,78b, 5×4) were in ominous form for Western Province, a good sign from a national perspective before the first Test against the West Indies.
They added 84 runs for the second wicket after Herschelle Gibbs was dismissed in Makhaya Ntini’s first over. Ntini took 3/24 in five overs. He was the best of the bowling attack of the Rest of South Africa.
The lower middle-order of the Rest, with Klusener and Robin Peterson (17) prominent, made a valiant effort to chase the total by scoring 51 runs off 40 deliveries in tandem for the seventh wicket.
After 20 overs the Rest of South Africa had only scored 93/6, with 56 runs needed off the last four overs to seal victory.
Klusener and Peterson then scored 13 runs of Alan Dawson’s fourth over and 16 of Roger Telemachus’s fourth before WP captain Ashwell Prince decided to go the spin-route to thwart Klusener and Kie.
It worked very well. Neil Johnson virtually sealed victory by catching Peterson in the penultimate over on the midwicket boundary in magnificent fashion of Smith’s off-break bowling. He took the catch one-handed and balanced himself spectacularly to ensure that he did not tread on the boundary rope.
He was swamped by his excited teammates after completing the catch, which ensured Province’s victory.
Klusener was breathtakingly powerful against the faster bowlers but did not seem that effective or comfortable against the slower men. Province’s left-arm spinner Claude Henderson was named man of the match by taking 3/27 in five overs and getting rid of Andrew Hall (27), Justin Ontong and Mark Boucher.
Prince employed Henderson over the wicket after Boucher hit Henderson’s first five deliveries for 10 runs. After Henderson switched to over the wicket, he undermined the effectiveness of the batsmen of the Rest.
Telemachus was another ace in the bowling pack of Province. He got rid of Jacques Rudolph (1) and Boeta Dippenaar (0) in his first over to restrict the Rest to 30/3. The ball was swinging in the overhead conditions but Rudolph and Dippenaar contributed to their own downfall with mediocre shots.
Earlier, Ntini bowled with venom and bounce. Monde Zondeki was also impressive and one of his deliveries was measured at 146,9kph. Andre Nel’s speed was a revelation. His fastest delivery was measured at 146,8kph and he was close to the 140kph mark on several occasions.
But while Smith and Kallis were batting most of the bowlers looked pedestrian. — Sapa