Unlucky Lions fail to advance

There was heartbreak for the Central Gauteng Lions as they beat South-Western Districts in their last match of the CSA Provincial T20 Cup in Kimberley yesterday, but not by a big enough margin to qualify for the quarterfinals.

The exit will be particularly galling for coach Wandile Gwavu, who led his team to the franchise T20 title earlier this year.

The Lions edged home by four wickets with just one ball to spare against SWD, and when Western Province beat Northern Cape by six wickets with 10 balls left later in the day, it meant three teams had finished with two wins each.

But WP’s nett run-rate (+0.17) was enough to lift them above the Lions (+0.04), who paid the price for a poor batting performance by the top-order yesterday.

Chasing just 130 for victory, the Lions slipped to 88/6 in the 15th over and were grateful to young Ruan Haasbroek (above), who finished the innings superbly with his determined 44 not out (38 balls).

Malusi Siboto (16*) provided great support as they added 44 off 33 balls to win the game.

The Lions bowled well after winning the toss to restrict SWD to 129/6, especially their fiery pacemen Lutho Sipamla (4-0-232), Sisanda Magala (4-0-18-1) and Siboto (4-0-23-1).

Captain Jean du Plessis scored 41 off 38 balls, and Jhedli van Briesies provided a late boost with his 24 not out off 17 deliveries, SWD putting enough runs on the board to ensure they advanced to the quarterfinals in first place in Pool A with a nett run-rate of +0.44.

Kyle Verreynne once again showed his mettle under high pressure as he took Western Province home to their tricky target of 164 in 18.2 overs with 25 not out (11 balls), ensuring they go through.

Zubayr Hamza (62 off 50 deliveries) continued his rebirth.

Western Province had sent Northern Cape in to bat and seamers Tshepo Moreki (4-0-23-2) and Wayne Parnell (4-1-30-3) bowled superbly but Evan Jones (50 off 35) and Beyers Swanepoel (39* off 18), combined, as Northern Cape shot to 163/8.