Western Province-Boland (WP-Boland) recovered from their defeat on Friday to entertain a Sunday crowd of about 7 000 in their Standard Bank Pro20 cricket match against the Warriors at Newlands on Sunday.
They were kept on tenterhooks for a long time, following an excellent performance with the ball, as the local batsmen again struggled against the slow bowlers. Some timely aggression from JP Duminy and captain Thami Tsolekile saw WP-Boland to victory with an over to spare.
Sent in to bat by Tsolekile, the Warriors were in all sorts of trouble against the pace attack. Rory Kleinveldt had both openers caught in the slips in his first two overs, and went one better by holding a scintillating return catch in his third to dismiss the dangerous Tyron Henderson.
William Hantam continued with his good work, hitting the stumps three times during his spell. Only Arno Jacobs played with any consistency, scoring 45 off 41 balls (six fours and one six) before holing out in the deep off Duminy.
Needing less than six to the over, openers Andrew Puttick and Derrin Bassage could afford to play with some circumspection against Henderson and Mfuneko Ngam. Henderson bowled his four over up front, producing the most economical full spell in the brief history of the Pro20 Series, conceding just eight runs while bowling both openers.
Puttick’s dismissal was particularly disappointing as he played no shot.
There was drama in the eighth over. Nantie Hayward’s second delivery had been a beamer to Duminy, and when he bowled another shoulder-high full toss to Henry Davids in his next over, he was suspended from bowling for the rest of the innings.
This punishment proved to be a blessing in disguise for the visitors, as Robin Peterson claimed Davids’s wicket with his second ball. As in the semifinal the previous season, the spinners then tied knots around the home batsmen. At one stage, the three-pronged spin attack had conceded just 20 runs in seven overs.
Hayward’s fateful delivery had been edged to the boundary by the shell-shocked Davids, but it was only in the 15th over when the boundary was again reached. Duminy produced a flurry of shots, twice lofting into the crowd before being taken in the deep. His 47 came off 46 balls (three fours and two sixes).
Big-hitting Kleinveldt went first ball, but Tsolekile took 16 runs off the penultimate over to ensure victory, with successive booming boundaries over mid-wicket sealing the result.
Kleinveldt took the Master Blaster award for his superb spell. — Sapa