Devastating Hinkel spins out Free State

Pool A: Border 278 for 8 dec and 240 for 7 dec beat Free State 138 and 171 (Hinkel 6-85) by 209 runs.
Scorecard

Ten wickets in the match and career-best figures of 6 for 85 for leg break bowler Warwick Hinkel was enough to see Border convincingly beat Free State in Bloemfontein.

Having declared overnight, Border had set Free State a target of 381 runs from 104 overs. With Hinkel mesmerising the batsmen the game was over in the early afternoon, after 65 overs and a winning margin of 209 runs.

Pool B: Eastern Province 178 and 300 (Homani 83, Nel 59, Howell 55, Alexander 3-48, Behardien 3-48) drew with Western Province 228 and 142 for 6 (Munnik 55*, Willemse 4-61).
Scorecard

Eastern Province were not prepared to take a gamble at St George's Park, and in the end they had to be content with sharing the spoils with Western Province. Batting out their second innings, they set a target of 251 runs in 52 overs after scoring 300. Bob Homani could only add 11 to his overnight 72 while Ruan Nel (59) and Grant Howell (55), the son of umpire Ian Howell, both made fifties on debut. Craig Alexander and Fahaan Behardien each took three wickets.

After a collapse from Western Province, engineered by Darryl Willmese (4-61), they were rescued by Rennier Munnik (55*) and Mark de Stadler (21) who had taken the score from 79 for 6 to 142 for 6 when time ran out.

Pool B: Griqualand West 414 for 5 dec and 250 for 8 dec (McLaren 57, Stroh 6-84) beat North West 350 for 8 dec and 203 (Rosenberg 86, Arthur 4-54, Coetzee 3-39) by 111 runs.
Scorecard

Griqualand West walked away with a massive 21.28 points as they beat North West at Sedgars Park by 111 runs. Griquas had continued batting until lunch, as Adrian McLaren scoring 57 which allowed them to declare at 250 for 8 and a lead of 314 runs. Richard Stroh, on his debut for North West, started off his career well as he took 6 for 84.

In reply, North West could not hold out being bowled out for 203 as they attempted to go after the target. Marc Rosenberg nearly helped to pull off the miracle by smashing 86 off 62 balls, but with no-one lending a hand, it was all in vain. Nathan Arthur (4-54) and Werner Coetzee (3-39) were the main wicket takers.