In a night of thrills and great excitement, the Mercedes Warriors beat the Nashua Titans by 23 runs in a Standard Bank Cup limited-overs match at Mercedes-Benz Park in East London on Friday.
Set 251 for victory, the Titans, under pressure throughout after losing two quick wickets, finished with 227 for five in a great attempt to win.
The Warriors took five valuable points from the match, and the Titans one.
Tyron Henderson struck in the first over for the Warriors, having Goolam Bodi caught behind off the second ball of the Titans’ innings, but then rain drove the players from the field and 16 minutes were lost.
Robin Peterson pouched a good catch at cover to get rid of Alviro Petersen, who had played a ball to leg off Brent Kops and got a leading edge.
Evergreen Daryll Cullinan (57) and Justin Kemp (102) added a brisk 104 for the third wicket, but some tight bowling and keen fielding sent the asking rate soaring.
Cullinan played some beautiful shots and his square-cuts were vintage Cullinan.
He smashed a huge, six-over long-on off Justin Kreusch but then tried a big hit off Peterson and was smartly stumped by Abongile Sodumo, who had a good game behind the sticks.
Kemp started slowly but then played some big shots — one or two just eluding the fielders — and went to his 50 off 89 balls with four fours.
The Warriors fielded like tigers, with Laden Gamiet close to the bat, and Kreusch on the boundary saving many a run.
But they dropped a couple of crucial catches that would have put the visitors under even more pressure.
With five overs to go, the Titans needed 62 to win, with Kemp blazing away.
The 43rd over, bowled by Henderson, yielded eight runs, including a four to Kemp who went to a well-deserved century.
Next over, Kemp was almost run out but the next ball he skied high into the air for Burton de Wett to take an excellent catch looking into the lights.
With the dismissal of Kemp all fight went out of the Titans and when the last over began — bowled by Henderson — 31 were needed and it was too much for the visitors, Pierre de Bruyn and Andre Nel taking seven runs in almost anti-climactic fashion after all the big hits.
Earlier, a 75-run unbeaten partnership for the seventh wicket by De Wett and Henderson rescued the Warriors, who were drifting along at 178 for six in the 40th over when Henderson came to the crease.
He made his intentions clear from the start, hitting aggressively at virtually every ball.
He smacked a huge six off Kemp over backward point — an almost-impossible shot to play — and even De Wett, influenced by Henderson and not to be outdone, opened up and flicked Nel over fine leg for a brilliant six that had the home crowd cheering.
Nel was expensive, his last two overs costing 38 runs. In the last five overs, 69 runs were scored.
The two made their runs in exactly 30 minutes off only 40 balls and changed the whole match with their aggression.
De Wett was nominated as man of the match. — Sapa