Western Province stay alive with five-run win over Boland
Cape Town, Jan 19 - Western Province had to work hard for a narrow five-run win over their less glamourous neighbours, Boland, and in the process keep alive their faint hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals of the Standard Bank Cup
MWP
19-Jan-2001
Cape Town, Jan 19 - Western Province had to work hard for a narrow
five-run win over their less glamourous neighbours, Boland, and in the
process keep alive their faint hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals of
the Standard Bank Cup.
It couldn't have come much closer for Province, who bowled and fielded
extremely well to defend a total which had always looked vulnerable. The
sides were playing on the same strip on which South African rattled up
nearly 300 just over a week ago, and the home side's failure evern to pass
200 looked to have signalled the end of their Cup hopes.
Defending champions Boland will rue a missed opportunity in the lion's
den of Newlands, but their biggest disappointment will be the fact that the
defence of their title ended with so much of the season still remaining.
With the exception of Justin Ontong with 66, their batsmen struggled as
Province's spin atack of Paul Adams and Claude Henderson took a grip on the
match.
Even so, a belligerent career-best 27 from Neil Carter took Boland to
within a couple of lusty blows of victory, but when he was brilliantly
caught by vice-captain Alan Dawson at the second attempt, the equation had
become too great an ask.
Earlier Province had made a miserable start as they looked to capitalise
on winning the toss - always a helping hand in a day/night game at Newlands.
Indeed if it were not for a fifth wicket partnership of 43 between Ashwell
Prince and Lloyd Ferreira, the target could have been so much less for the
visitors. Prince, who averages close to 70 in domestic limited overs cricket
this year, earned the man-of-the-match award for his crucial 61.