CSA T20 Challenge log leaders, the Dafabet Warriors, have increased the gap at the top after winning against AET Tuskers by 31 runs.
The Tuskers won the toss and decided to have a bowl first. The seamers did a decent job for the Tuskers, but the spinners were on the expensive side.
The log leaders posted a good total at St. George’s Park of 174 in their 20 overs. Warriors captain Matthew Breetzke was the main contributor with his 41 ball 72. In the process, he scored 7 sixes. The rest the Warriors batters put on some effective contributions to ensure the Warriors end up with a good total.
The visiting side struggled to deal with the Warriors’ middle pace bowlers. As Alfred Mothoa and Patrick Kruger were very economical in their 4 overs. Nealan van Heerden took the wickets with figures of 3 for 31, and Beyers Swanepoel took 2 for 34.
The Tuskers fell short by 31 runs with Cameron Delport (29) being the only batter to pass 20 runs. The Pietermaritzburg side managed to score 143 for 9 in their 20 overs.
World Sport Betting Western Province have not had a good time of late as they are winless in their last 4 matches. Fortunes in Potchefstroom did not change for WP against Auto Investments North West Dragons.
WP captain Kyle Verreynne won the toss and elected to field first. The homeside put on a good first wicket partnership of 44 before Meeka-eel Prince was dismissed by Mthiwekhaya Nabe, just 2 balls after the powerplay. The WP bowlers did a good job in keeping the dangerous Ruben Hermann quiet as he was the third wicket to fall on 73. The attacking wicketkeeper batter only scored 30 at a strike rate of 11.
Former Proteas u19 captain and recent Test debut Raynard van Tonder anchored the Dragons innings with an unbeaten 39 of 29 balls to assist the team score 155 for 8.
Mthiwekhaya (2/25), Kyle Simmonds (2/22), and George Linde (2/29) all took 2 wickets, each with Juan James and Beuran Hendricks taking a wicket each.
With the target set at 156, WP had to score under 8 runs an over to win the match. The WP batters struggled to get going. In the top 5, only Eddie Moore got to double figures. The problem with Eddie is that due to the wickets falling around him, he ended up batting at a strike rate of 117 for his 47. Valentine Kitime anchored the innings as well once Eddie was dismissed, but the youngster in the end was batting slow for his 33 of 28 balls.
George was dismissed for 20, and Juan had his best game with the bat as he scored an unbeaten 17 ball 29. WP could only manage to score 144 for 6 in their 20 overs.
With WP still occopying the fourth position in the log despite the loss, now they are in danger of being displaced from their semi-finals position. Even with the win over WP, the Dragons stay in position 6 as the Titans also won on Friday.
The Multiply Momentum Titans visited the Cape Winelands and went back to the capital city with the maximum points, including the bonus point.
The homeside Gbets Paarl Rocks batted first things just did not start on the good note for them. Adrian du Toit was dismissed without facing a ball in the first over when he got run out.
Things never got easier for the Titans as David Wiese continued his good form with the ball as she took 2 wickets in the powerplay of Shaun von Berg (8) and Aviwe Mgijima (0).
Only the Rocks captain Clyde Fortuin seemed to be batting on a different Boland Park wicket compared to the other batters. Clyde scored an entertaining 24 ball 45, including 4 sixes, before he was dismissed by Neil Brand.
The Rocks would eventually post 122 all out in their innings. David was the best bowler with his spell of 2 for 9. Lungi Ngidi and Junior Dala got 2 wickets each. Corbin Bosch, Neil, and Tabriaz Shamsi took a wicket each.
The Titans’ response was swift as they were chasing a bonus point. Lhuan-dre Pretorius gave the Titans a good start after early wickets of Rivaldo Moonsamy and Steve Stolk.
Sibonelo Makhanya stole the show with his unbeaten 25 ball 50. Sibonelo had a 72 run of 26 balls match winning partnership with Dayyaan Galiem (29 of 12 balls). The partnership got the Titans to the finish line in 13 overs.
The Titans are currently on the fifth position with just 1 point behind the fourth placed WP.
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