Lions fall short as Eagles make final

Eagles 188 for 6 (Bosman 75) beat Lions 154 for 9 (Petersen 52, Telemachus 4-25) by 34 runs
Scorecard

The Eagles made their way into the final of the Standard Bank PRO20 after convincingly beating the Lions by 34 runs at Goodyear Park in Bloemfontein. The match should have been played yesterday but was postponed because of heavy rain.

The Eagles won the toss and took advantage of batting first with Loots Bosman smashing six sixes and two boundaries in his 38-ball 75. Jacques Rudolph was bowled first ball but with the rest of the top order scoring at better than a-run-a-ball a sound platform had been set for the middle order. Nicky Boje had a little 32-run flurry while Johan van der Wath hit a quick 20 off seven balls as the Eagles posted a useful 188 for 6 off the 20 overs.

The Lions were put on the back foot early in their innings with two wickets from Cliff Deacon and one from Roger Telemachus. Stephen Cook was caught for 36 with the score on 67 for 4 and nearly half the overs completed. Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Alviro Petersen tried to up the run rate but with the 100 only coming up in the 14th over things were slipping away quickly. The loss of van Jaarsveld to Telemachus for 22, plus two further cheap wickets from Telemachus (4 for 25) put the hopes squarely with Petersen. He responded well, scoring 52 not out off 28 balls, but it all came a little too late as the Lions ended on 154 for 9.

The final will be contested at Bloemfontein on Sunday where the Eagles will have home advantage over the Cape Cobras.