van der Wath keeps Eagles flying high
The Eagles won an exciting match over the Dolphins in their top-of-the-table clash in Durban
Keith Lane
25-Nov-2004
Eagles 216 for 6 (van der Wath 91) beat Dolphins 215 for 5 (Wingfield 59*, Khan 58) by 4 wickets
The Eagles won an exciting match over the Dolphins in their top-of-the-table clash in Durban. The win extended the Eagles' lead at the top of the table.
Having set the Eagles a target of 216 the reliable opening partnership of Morne van Wyk and Jonathan Beukus was broken early by the Dolphins, resulting in frequent wickets and a difficult position of 51 for 4 after 12 overs. Loots Bosman and Johannes van der Wath put on 74 when Bosman was caught behind for 37. The dangerous van der Wath took a liking to the Dolphins bowling and single handily turned the game back in the Eagles' favour. With a willing partner in Craig Thyssen he two steered the Eagles closer with some power hitting. With four runs needed van der Wath tried to hit Andrew Tweedie over his head only to be well caught and bowled for an excellent run-a-ball 91. Thyssen ended the game with a lofted cover drive to finish on 33.
Doug Watson and Imraan Khan once again got the Dolphins off to a good start, putting on 79 in 18 overs when Watson was run out for 29 by Deon Kruis. Khan followed on 112, bowled for 58 by Thandi Tshabalala who also picked up the wicket of Ashraf Mall for 12. Dale Benkenstein
(2) for once failed with the bat while Jon Kent contributed 34.
Wade Wingfield, who had come in at number three, batted long for 59 while Lance Klusener, once again coming in too late to be effective, only received eight balls for his nine as the Dolphins finished on 215 for 5.
Titans 171 for 2 (Dros 66*) beat Warriors 167 all out (Kemp 5-38) by 8 wickets
The bowling of Justin Kemp proved to be too good for the Warriors as they were bowled out for 167 in 43.1 overs. Kemp, who mixed up his pace well, was introduced in the 25th over with immediate success as he got rid of Mark Boucher with his first ball, bowled. He ended the innings off with the last four wickets for a 5 for 38 return in 8.1 overs.
The Titans started well with both Alviro Petersen and AB de Villiers getting into the thirties before both needlessly giving away their wickets away. Gerald Dros and Kemp started slowly but with a bonus point up on offer they accelerated to finish the game in the 36th over to secure the extra point. Dros scored 66 while Kemp reached 35.