Bodi hundred takes KwaZulu-Natal to easy win

Goolam Bodi delivered his career best performances with bat and ball to guide Natal to an impressive nine-wicket win with al of six overs to spare. Man-of-the-match Bodi took two for 30 off seven overs and then scored a chanceless 106 not out off 118 balls with 11 fours and three sixes as Natal replied to Eastern Province's 217 for eight with 219 for one in 39 overs.

The home side bowled tightly in the second half of the innings to curb an EP total that seemed headed for 250. Much of the credit for that effort will go to Jon Kent, who took four for 29, also his career best.

Bodi's analysis would have been rather more impressive had he not conceded 16 runs in his seventh and last over, in which he also dismissed Dave Callaghan. Kent, meanwhile, snuffed out EP's budding momentum by bowling Murray Creed and having Robin Peterson caught behind four balls apart in the 29th over.

Not for the first time, EP's batting was held together by veteran Callaghan, whose 73 off 106 balls with seven fours and two sixes was his 26th domestic limited overs half-century. Callaghan shared in both major partnerships of the innings, the 57 off 76 balls he put on with James Bryant for the third wicket, and the 51 off 66 he and Shafiek Abrahams scored for the seventh.

Bodi then put the seal on a memorable evening for him with a seamless innings. The bulk of his runs came in a solid opening stand of 178 shared with Doug Watson, whose well crafted 72 came off 104 balls and included five fours and a six. The partnership ended in the 35th over when Watson drove straight but firmly back to left-arm spinner Peterson.

Bodi and Wade Wingfield finished the job with their unbroken partnership of 41, and while the EP attack would have been improved by the addition of the injured Mfuneko Ngam and Justin Kemp, who is in the national squad, it is doubtful whether even their presence would have stopped the home side on the night.