Reigning Standard Bank Cup champions the Eagles went one step closer to retaining their title when they beat the Highveld Lions at the Wanderers by 34 runs on Friday night.
The Lions, chasing 264 for victory, started off briskly enough with a first-wicket partnership of 76 between Adam Bacher and Stephen Cook, but lost their way slightly with the loss of Bacher, two runs short of his 50, Neil McKenzie for six and Matthew Harris for 23 runs.
The man to put the spoke in the wheel and slow down the momentum was Eagles spinner Thandi Tshabalala, who was rewarded with the wickets of Harris trapped in front and then bowled Werner Coetsee for 15.
With the run rate getting beyond them, the Lions seemed unable to step up the pace and lost wickets at regular intervals. The competition’s leading run-scorer, Cook, top-scored for the Lions, striking a 76-ball 71, with six fours and a straight six, but was caught at midwicket going for one big hit to many.
Earlier, Eagles captain Morne van Wyk led from the front with a 101-ball 86 to put them on the road to a very credible 263 off their allotted 45 overs.
The captain, together with the big-hitting Loots Bosman, contributed 62 for the second wicket with Bosman scoring a better-than-a-run-a-ball 40, which included seven boundaries and a massive six lofted over extra cover off the first ball of Enoch Nkwe’s opening salvo.
Bosman’s innings was eventually brought to a close when Eugene Moleon rearranged his stumps. However, Van Wyk was to find another willing partner in Ryan Bailey. Together they put on 85 runs before Van Wyk holed out to Coetsee on the third-man boundary.
Bailey went on to accumulate his highest score in limited-overs cricket, striking six fours and a six in a 65-ball 68. The middle-order batsman was eventually run out when his partner, Roger Telemachus, called for an unlikely run.
Telemachus and Dillion du Preez then came to the party, hammering 33 runs off the remaining deliveries, with spinner Coetsee conceding 20 runs off the final over. — Sapa