South Africa on song, New Zealand flounder

South Africa Emerging Players 6 for 274 (van Zyl 60, van Jaarsveld 50, Behardien 50, Kumar 3-49) beat India Emerging Players 6 for 271 (Rahane 92, Walters 3-50) by four wickets
Scorecard

South Africa Emerging Players picked up their fifth win on the trot beating India Emerging Players at the Albury Oval in Brisbane. Ajinkya Rahane's classy 92 for India went in vain as South Africa overhauled a stiff target with nine balls to spare. Stiaan van Zyl, Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Farhaan Behardien contributed vital half-centuries to ensure that South Africa's unbeaten record stayed intact.

After being put in, India were off to a solid start as Rahane and Naman Ojha put on a century stand. Captain S Badrinath chipped in with a useful 44, and allrounder Abhishek Nayar gave the innings some late impetus with a quickfire 42 from 27 balls. Medium-pacer Basheeru-Deen Walters picked up three crucial middle-order wickets for 50 runs to emerge as the most successful South African bowler.

India were in with a shout after they had reduced South Africa to 2 for 56, but an 82-run third-wicket stand between van Zyl and captain van Jaarsveld turned the match South Africa's way. The fifth-wicket partnership of 54 between van Zyl and Behardien then effectively shut the door on India. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of Indian bowlers with 3 for 39.

South Africa remain at the top of the points table with 10 points, while India are in third place with two victories in five matches. India lost out for a second time against the same opponents, following their 10-run defeat on the second day of the tournament.

Australian Institute of Sports 7 for 221 (Cooper 60, Smith 54*, Nethula 3-44) beat New Zealand Emerging Players 217 (Fulton 60, McDermott 3-49) by three wickets
Scorecard

Despite the presence of internationals such as Tim Southee, Peter Fulton and Martin Guptill, New Zealand Emerging Players slumped to their fifth consecutive defeat in Brisbane. Chasing 218, Australian Institute of Sports were heading for an overwhelming win, as they had when the teams met five days ago, but a middle-order collapse trimmed the margin of victory.

After opting to field, AIS didn't allow any New Zealand partnership to flourish; the highest stand of the innings was 37 for the third wicket between captain Peter Fulton and Kane Williamson. Fulton top scored with 60, wicketkeeper Reece Young posted 41 but none of the others crossed 25, which meant New Zealand finished with an insufficient 217.

The AIS openers Matthew Wade and Tom Cooper gave the chase a cracking start, putting on 94 in 14 overs. They fell within 12 runs of each other but AIS, guided by Steven Smith, continued to score freely, reaching 3 for 155 in the 28th over. Three wickets went down for seven runs to give New Zealand a sniff but Smith remained unbeaten to shepherd the home side to a win with more than ten overs to spare.