Zondeki dig deep to triumph in thrilling Amacal’egusha final
while Luxolo Tsewu, 3/46, and Phaphama Fojela, 2/12, backed him up well.
“From the start the bowlers did well, they bowled in good areas,” said Mnci.
“It was a really good start reducing them to nought for one but then we didn’t take our chances early on. But the bowlers kept bowling well and then we had a decent target to chase, because we said anything under 180 was very gettable.”
Zondeki looked to be cruising to the win in their reply, before a flurry of wickets turned it into a thrilling finish.
Opening batsman Lukhanyo Makula played a superb innings, guiding his team to within just a single run of victory, before he fell for a solid 50 runs.
He shared in two important partnerships, of 45 with Mbangi (35) for the second wicket and 72 with Tsewu (49) for the fourth wicket.
With the scores level, Zondeki lost three wickets as they struggled to get that final run, with Vukani bowler Malwande Zamo, 3/26, picking up a couple of late scalps, before they edged over the line in the 32nd over.
“Our batsmen then did very well, Lukhanyo Makula was great up front and Lux [Luxolo Tsewu] came in and smashed the ball all over the place,” said Mnci.
“It was a tough finish as they got a few wickets at the end and made it nervy but that is cricket.
“We really enjoyed the tournament this year and we will come back next year with the big guns and hopefully defend our title.”