Hornbuckle secures SWD victory

A brilliant unbeaten century by Neil Hornbuckle (123* from 155 balls, 11x4), supported by a cohesive team effort, made it three victories in three matches for the SWD cricket team in the Cricket South Africa provincial limited overs competition.

On Sunday, at the Recreation Ground in Oudtshoorn, Obus Pienaar and his men showed great composure when they successfully chased down 264 runs to defeat Western Province by five wickets with two balls to spare.

The visitors, who won the toss, posted a very competitive 263/6 in their allotted 50 overs, thanks to a century by Matthew Kleinveldt (134 from 259 balls, 2x6, 8x4) and a half-century by André Malan (58). SWD did well to restrict Western Province to less than 275. After 30 overs they were on 167/2 and a score of 300 was on the cards.

The SWD batsmen perfectly paced their run chase with the ever-brilliant Obus Pienaar (55 from 64 balls; 4x4) and Letlotle Sesele (37 from 42 balls; 6x4) adding valuable support.

With three overs left SWD required 34 runs but Hornbuckle together with power hitting from Marco de Kock (16 from 8 balls) secured a SWD victory. All eyes are now set for SWD’s next match - against fellow log leaders Northerns at the Recreation Ground on Sunday, 25 November.

The summarised scorecard: Western Province 263/6 (Matthew Kleinveldt 134, André Malan 58, Jack Newby 28, Niel Hornbuckle 2/42)

SWD 267/5 (49.4) (Niel Hornbuckle 123*, Obus Pienaar 55, Letlotle Sesele 37, Mpilo Njoloza 4/46)

SWD won by 5 wickets