Thomas makes Border sweat a little for victory
North West, led by their find of the season, Alfonso Thomas, managed to make Border's expected cruise to victory a fairly bumpy one on Sunday morning
MWP
19-Mar-2001
North West, led by their find of the season, Alfonso Thomas, managed to make
Border's expected cruise to victory a fairly bumpy one on Sunday morning.
The afternoon was 10 minutes old when Border clinched the win, but they had
been made to sweat a little before getting home by 90 runs. Thomas and last
man in Francois van der Merwe were largely responsible for that as they
added a bright 57 for the 10th wicket.
For the former, who has been something of a not-out specialist this season,
the day was one of personal triumph, even if it didn't end in a North West
victory. His second half-century of the campaign, to go with an unbeaten
106, took his series aggregate to 512, surpassing by 10 the previous North
West record of 502, set by Andre van Deventer in 1992/3, although he has
batted no higher than number eight.
That was to prevent any negative impact on his bowling and his 28 wickets,
including seven in this encounter, prove that he managed to get the balance
just right.
North West had started 231 adrift on 78 for five, but a sixth-wicket stand
of 53 between Glen Hewitt (48) and Mark Lavine (34) held up Border before
Thomas and Van der Merwe, who made 24 off 35 balls, provided even stronger
resistance.
For Border, the victory means that, like Western Province, they also go into
this week's final in top form as they seek to make it third time lucky.