North West bounce back with shock win

North West 210 for 9 (Samsodien 4-34, Behardien 3-41) beat Western Province 158 (Worth 52, Coetsee 4-20, Rosenberg 3-17) by 52 runs
Scorecard

They say cricket is a funny game, and once again it has been proved correct. After taking a hammering in the three-day game, North West came back from another desperate situation to beat Western Province by 52 runs.

After winning the toss and batting first, North West collapsed to 75 for 6 as Waleed Samsodien and Farhaan Behardien shared the spoils, and the writing was on the wall for a side that had failed to pass 100 in either of their innings in the three-day game. But good partnerships followed and somehow North West managed to score 210 for 9 in the 45 overs allocated. Their last five put on 135 in 25 overs.

Province lost two wickets in the first over of their reply, but a partnership of 95 between Doug Worth (52) and Warren Wyngaard (42) put them well on top. The run-out of Wyngaard and the bowling of Werner Coetsee and Marc Rosenberg then sparked the North West rival. Seven wickets followed for the addition of 63 runs in 19 overs and the game was over. The minnows from Potchefstroom walked away with the biggest smiles.

There was excitement at Kingsmead as Gauteng waited until the final over to score the winning runs, as KwaZulu-Natal lost out by two wickets.

Natal were sent into bat first, and squandered a solid start from Kyle Smit (55), with Enoch Nkwe taking the first four wickets of the innings as they slumped to 115 for 5. Robert Frylinck (60 not out) and Darren Smit put the innings back on track but one always suspected that 212 was not going to be enough.

Gauteng made a good start to their reply, but again three quick wickets rocked them back on their heels. A matchsaving run-a-ball 111-run partnership followed between Blake Snijman (92) and Matthew Harris (60), as Gauteng closed in on their target. Frylinck struck twice in close succession and when Derek Crookes was run out in the 41st over Gauteng were still 21 runs behind. It got even closer, 20 runs needed off 23 balls when Frylinck struck again. In the end Natal had left it just too late as the winning runs came with five balls to spare.