VEREENIGING: The North West Rural side snuck past Free State Rural by two runs to finish unbeaten in the T20 leg of the CSA Inland Rural Week in Vereeniging on Sunday.
Free State went into the match unbeaten and North West had lost one match in the week leading to the final game.
It was another hotly contested clash with North West putting together 118 for eight in their 20 overs.
Johann Ranft top scored at the top of the order with 35 off 41 balls. Estiaan Schonfeldt also contributed with 22 to get North West to that winning score.
In reply, the Free State side were cruising home at 110 for four with two overs to go.
They lost five wickets for five runs and couldn’t get the four runs required off the final ball of the game.
Tshepo Masheshemane’s 38 put Free State on the path to victory, however Stiaan Swanepoel’s 4 for 13 thought otherwise as he bowled his side to victory.
In arguably one of the performances of the week, Bernard Voster made 94 off 50 balls to help Mpumalanga to a three wicket win over KZN Inland Rural on Sunday.
Inland made a competitive 144 for two from their 20 overs.
Jarryd Walsh top scored with 57 off 51 balls while Warren Humphries was undefeated on 41.
In response, Voster, batting at four, was the only significant contribution as the next highest score was 14 from Michael Rossouw.
Mpumalanga won the match with two balls to spare to give them a first T20 win of the week.
The Dolphins Rural side finished their week with a bang when they beat Limpopo Rural by three runs in another exciting affair at the Dick Fourie Stadium.
Batting first the Dolphins Rural side made 101 for seven with Adesh Bageloo top scoring with 38 from 46 balls. The knock held the innings together and got them over the 100 run mark.
Michael McNicoll was the best Limpopo bowler with figures of 3 for 18 in his four overs.
With the bat Limpopo were pinned back by the bowling of Kaylin Naidoo who took 4 for 12 in three overs.
Shawn Cross’ good form continued as he made 41 off 43 balls but there was not enough help as the Limpopo side fell three runs short.
Gauteng Rural finished their week with a resounding 54 run win over Norther Cape Rural.
Making 130 for eight in their 20 overs Gauteng’s bowlers put the match to bed skittling Northern Cape for just 76 in 16 overs.
Alexander Kok made 56 from 49 balls for Gauteng to get them to that 130 run mark.
Niel Erasmus chipped in with 31 as well while the wickets were shared by the Northern Cape bowlers.
In reply, Dewald Erasmus took 3 for 14 in four overs and Jean Pierre Kok and Wikus Botha shared four wickets between them to bowl Northern Cape out cheaply.
Source: cricket.co.za
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