Jumbos dispatch the Strikers

An unbroken sixth-wicket partnership of 42 between wicketkeeper Wayne Murray and left-arm spinner Robin Peterson carried Eastern Province to the top of the Standard Bank Cup table, as they leap-frogged Easterns with their fifth victory in as many games.

EP beat the Highveld Strikers by five wickets with five overs to spare in a match reduced to 42 overs a side by a rain-delayed start, after shooting the home side out for just 128 on a seaming Wanderers wicket that had Strikers' captain Clive Eksteen fuming a little afterwards.

In fact, the home side's total may have been considerably lower. They were reeling on 93 for eight and only the fact that three of the last four batsmen; Ottis Gibson (17), Eksteen himself (12) and last man in Walter Masimula (14) managed to get into double figures helped them beyond the century mark after EP captain Carl Bradfield had won the toss and put them in.

Paceman Garnett Kruger, who had performed superbly against the Sri Lankans when the tourists played a one-dayer against EP a week earlier in Port Elizabeth, rose to the occasion again, ripping through the Strikers batting to take five for 28, including an out-of-sorts Daryll Cullinan for a duck, bowled off the inside edge of his bat. Not surprisingly, Kruger was named man of the match.

Bradfield led the EP victory march with 39 before becoming the first of two Gibson lbw victims in the space of three balls in the 29th over, Justin Kemp following for a duck. Six balls later, Dave Callaghan was run out for four attempting a single off Eksteen's left-arm spin and the visitors had crashed from 82 for two to 87 for five.

However, Murray and the aggressive Peterson (24 off 22 balls, four fours) steadied the ship and knocked off the remaining 42 in impressive style, taking exactly seven overs to lift their side to the top of the table. The semi-finals are already beckoning the Jumbos and a couple more victories should secure their berth.