Jason pulls trigger

Border U19 star’s sublime strokeplay crunches Namibians

JASON Niemand ended it in style as he cracked Namibian bowler Donovan Zealand for six as the Border U19 Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Week team cruised to a seven-wicket win over the Namibian U19s in Bloemfontein yesterday afternoon.

Set 230 runs to win Border reached the target with 99 balls to spare, finishing on 235/3.

Niemand having hit an entertaining 75 off 60 balls (10x4; 1x6) was the star of the show, however bar opening batsman Josneil Long who went out for a golden duck, the other batsmen all contributed with Athenkosi Mfazwe hitting 53, Jason Raubenheimer (48) and captain Sinethemba Qeshile 32 not out in a solid batting performance.

Their chase was made all the more easier by an impressive bowling performance that restricted Namibia to 229 all out in 44.4 overs.

Namibia’s total was built around opening batsman Jurgen Linde’s 100-ball 84, but with not enough help from the rest of the team they ended up setting a very chase-able target.

Luke Dallas with 3/35 in his 10 overs led the good bowling effort while he was backed up well by Raubenheimer 2/42 and Siphamandla Krweqe 2/47.

The win in Border’s first one-day match was the perfect response after they battled in the T20 format on Sunday.

They suffered losses at the hands of Free State and Easterns which had stalled their impressive start to the competition after good showings in their time cricket matches on day one and two.

Border began the week by beating Northern Cape on first innings on Friday, before drawing against Mpumalanga on Saturday, although they looked well on course to pass their first innings score when play was called.

Border will now head into their final match of this year’s Coke Week today with their opponent only decided late last night.

The team will be aiming to end their week on the best possible note with another victory that would seal a good week of cricket.