Marais heroics not enough as Border go down
A sparkling unbeaten 83-ball century from Border star Marco Marais was not enough to save his team from falling to another defeat as a rampant Northerns team cantered to a comfortable nine-wicket win in their CSA one-day competition match at Buffalo Park on Sunday.
Marais brought up his third list A hundred with a single off the last ball of the Border innings, which saw them end on a below par 244 fo seven wickets at the end of their 50 overs.
Northerns then made short work of the chase, powering their way over the line with over 13 overs to spare.
The easy Northerns win was set up by a confident 127-run opening stand between Andrea Agathangelou and Victor Mahlangu, who negotiated the bowling without taking any risks, as they took their team past 50 in the 10th over and past 100 in the 23rd over.
Both batsmen had reached their half centuries by the time Agathangelou was bowled by Mkhululi Calana for 72 off 86 deliveries (6x4; 1x6).
However, there was no let up for the Border bowling attack as this brought Diego Rosier to the crease, and he thumped 15 runs off his first five balls, hitting Lizo Makhosi for three fours and a three after a dot off his first ball.
With Rosier hammering from the other end this encouraged Mahlangu to pick up his scoring rate as the pair chased a bonus point, which they duly achieved as it took just 10.1 overs for them to knock off the remaining runs to win.
Their partnership finished unbeaten on 121 off 61 balls, with Rosier finishing on 61 not out off 31 deliveries (8x4; 1x6).
Fittingly it was Mahlangu who finished things off, starting the 37th over bowled by Sithembile Langa on 92 runs before hitting the first, second and fourth balls for boundaries to end his innings on 104 off 105 balls (16x4).
At the start of the day’s play, Northerns won the toss and elected to field first.
After the early dismissal of Sihle Magongoma, 1, opener Martin Walters was joined by captain Jason Niemand, and they looked to build the innings with a 62-run partnership.
Both batsmen could not kick on as Niemand was caught by Eldred Hawken for 42 and Walters by Rosier for 41, both off the bowling of Tshepo Moreki, leaving Border on 99/3.
This brought Marais to the crease, but with Calana, 8, run out and Mncedisi Malika, 3, caught by Agathangelou off Neil Brand, it left Border in trouble on 134/5 in the 33rd over.
Marais then found a willing partner in Bamanye Xenxe, and they shared in a 68-run stand and gave the Border bowlers something to defend.
In all it was a chastening weekend for the Border team, as they were thumped by 10 wickets in the three-day match against the same opponents on Saturday.