Inspired bowling sees WP on brink of victory over Warriors

An inspired bowling performance by Western Province took them to the brink of victory as the Dafabet Warriors ended day two on 119/9 in the penultimate round of the CSA 4-Day Series in Gqeberha yesterday.

Three wickets each by Onke Nyaku and Beuran Hendricks alongside two wickets by Wesley Bedja broke the back of the Warriors run chase as play concluded with them needing a further 115 to win — with Jiveshan Pillay (60 runs off 130 balls) and Alfred Mothoa (4 off 1 ball) set to return on day three today.

Chasing 234 runs to win, the home side found themselves in early trouble as WP’s Hendricks struck down three of the top four batsmen to close out the afternoon session.

He had Jordan Hermann dismissed cheaply, out caught by Daniel Smith for a brace, before removing skipper Matthew Breetzke (3) and Tristan Stubbs (0) caught behind by Kyle Verreynne to leave the hosts reeling on 7/3 at the tea break.

Things got worse for the hosts as the 33-run partnership between Sinethemba Qeshile and Pillay was broken when Mthiwekhaya Nabe trapped the right-hander leg before wicket for six runs, before Rudi Second (4) suffered a similar fate at the hands of Bedja.

Pillay and Patrick Kruger shared 35 runs for the sixth wicket.

However, Kruger was caught in the slip cordon off Bedja as the hosts slipped to 80-6, still 154 runs behind with four wickets in hand.

As wickets tumbled around him, Pillay faced 104 balls and hit 10 boundaries to move past 50, as he and Beyers Swanepoel took the side to 109.

However, Nyaku removed Swanepoel for 12, before dismantling Renaldo Meyers’ stumps for a duck to take his side to the brink of victory.

He claimed a third to dismiss Siya Simetu without scoring, ending the day with figures of 3/17 from eight overs, while Hendricks claimed 3/30 along with Bedja’s 2/33.

Earlier, WP resumed the day on 49/1, with a second innings lead of 79 runs, as Yaseen Vallie and Tony de Zorzi added 21 runs to take their partnership to 65 while WP’s lead grew to 100.

Mothoa dismissed Vallie for 36, before Gavin Kaplan was sent packing for four runs by Meyer with WP on 77/3 with a lead of 103.

De Zorzi and skipper Verreynne took the travellers past 100 as their partnership grew to 36.

However, Kruger got rid of both set batsmen when he had De Zorzi caught for 44 before Verreynne edged a ball through to wicketkeeper Qeshile for 29.

Returning from the break on 136/5, with George Linde (13 off 15) and Nyaku (1 off 22) still at the crease and a lead of 166, the visitors added just 67 runs for the loss of their last five wickets.

Linde and Nyaku shared 63 runs, taking the visitors to 185 and their lead to 215 before Linde was removed by Mothoa for 31.

Simetu claimed two wickets when he bowled Nyaku for 27 and Hendricks for a single with the score on 199.

Swanepoel removed Kyle Simmonds (10) before Simetu castled Bedja for a duck to end the WP innings on 203 all out with a lead of 233.

The left-arm orthodox spinner finished with figures of 3/29 from 6.1 overs, while Kruger, Meyer and Mothoa claimed 2/16, 2/55 and 2/56 respectively.