Disappointing result for Border
BORDER ended what had been a good weekend of cricket on a bit of a low note as they lost their CSA Provincial One-Day Cup match against Northern Cape by six wickets yesterday afternoon.
Having dominated their Sunfoil three-day Cup match against the same opponents, ending with a thumping win on Saturday, Border were confident heading into yesterday’s one-day game. However, after posting a very competitive 290/8 batting first, their bowlers let them down as Northern Cape cruised home without too much trouble.
The visitors’ chase got off to the worst possible start as Border strike bowler Phaphama Fojela trapped opening batsman Letlotlo Sesele LBW for a first ball duck but then Cloete Buitendag led a counter-attacking 148-run partnership in 20.1 overs, with Diego Rosier in an anchor role, before Darryl Brown bowled Buitendag for 88 off 61 balls (12x4, 2x6).
Rosier was then caught in the deep by Martin Walters off Fojela for a just over a run-aball 70 (5x4, 1x6) and when Gerhardt Abrahams (25) was run out by Jerry Nqolo in the 34th over with Northern Cape on 211, Border may have felt more victory.
However, Aubrey Swanepoel (72 not out) and Warren Bell (32 not out) then combined for an unbeaten 82-run stand to comfortably lead the visitors home with 29 balls to spare.
In the three-day match Border began the final day on Saturday needing nine wickets to win, while Northern Cape resumed on 38/1, needing an extremely improbable 410 runs for victory.
Despite putting in a better batting performance than in their first innings, Northern Cape were never in with a shot as they lost regular wickets with only lower order batsman Corné Dry adding some respectability optimistic of to the score with 86 runs.
The Border bowlers were a little sloppy in conceding 40 extras, but with the visitors eventually being dismissed for 233, the home team cantered home to a massive 214-run win.
Fojela with 4/40 and Phumzile Majaja 3/41, were the top bowlers in the innings, while Fojela’s match haul of 9/61 was a superb effort.