The Eagles won a last over hanger against the Highveld Lions by two wickets on Friday night in Bloemfontein after the home team nearly lost the match in the second last over.
The defending champions nearly lost their grip on the match when Jacques Rudolp (111), Roger Telemachus (0) and Cliff Deacon (0) all walked back to the pavilion within the space of three runs over the last two overs.
Johan van der Wath hit the winning runs with four balls remaining in the last over to edge the Eagles past 267.
The match was played on a good batting pitch with high scores on both sides, leading to the Lions setting up a winnable 267. The Eagles’s opening batsman Davey Jacobs stood for 14 minutes before he was caught by Lions wicket keeper Diaan van Wyk on two off Tyron Henderson.
A solid second wicket partnership between Morne van Wyk and Jacques Rudolph of 97 runs of 95 balls put the Eagles on good roll.
Van Wyk was however caught from Claude Henderson for 39 (49 balls, 6X4).
Six minutes later Ryan Bailey walked back to the dressing room on seven (4 balls, 1×4) to bring captain Nicky Boje to the pitch with score on 115.
Boje and Rudolph took the score to 179 with a 64 run partnership before Boje on 39 (43 balls, 3×4) was bowled by Moleon. Things nearly got out of hand when Rudolph was bowled on 111 (114 balls, 11×4, 2×6) with the Eagles on 265, just three runs short of the winning total.
Roger Telemachus and Cliff Deacon both went for a duck with the home team’s score suddenly stuck on 265 runs.
The Eagles made an early breakthrough when youngster Jean Symes was caught leg before wicket for a duck with the third ball of the opening over. With the Lions one wicket down with no score Niel Mckensie and a solid Peterson started building an innings.
However, 45 minute later Mckensie was caught by Ryan McLaren from the bowling of Van der Wath with his score on 11 (23 balls), ending a 38 run partnership.
A decision by the Lions to send Tyron Henderson in at number four worked very well as he immediately took the bowlers to task. Henderson and Peterson kept the score board ticking over in double time before Henderson was caught behind (Van Wyk) from Thandi Tsabalala for 44 (43 balls, 4×4), with the Lions on 113.
Their third wicket partnership of 75 runs from 75 balls in just under an hour helped a good deal in setting the 267 score.
Justin Ontong, 75 not out (64 balls, 3×4, 2×6), came to the wicket and he and Petersen hit 123 runs (93 minutes, 123 balls, 7×2, 1×6) for the fourth wicket before Peterson was caught on the boundary from Van der Wath.
A 17 minute stoppage due to rain after the 30th over did little to cool Ontong and he went on to score his 75 not out. Ontong made good after he was dropped in the 40th over with the Lions score on 219.
Not one of the Eagle bowlers were spared on the batting-friendly pitch although Johan van der Wath did well by taking three wickets for 45 runs in nine overs. – Sapa