A magnificent, counter-attacking 93 from captain Senuran Muthusamy was the single difference between Dafabet Warriors and the Renault North West Dragons as the visitors recorded an emphatic 121-run victory in their CSA One-Day Cup match post at the North-West University No 1 ground in Potchefstroom on Wednesday.
Muthusamy’s innings helped the Warriors post a more-then-respectable total of 278 for eight after being asked to bat first and the home side could only slumber to 157 all out in reply to lose convincingly, with offspinner Jason Raubenheimer claiming 3-34.
Janneman Malan inched his way to 19 from 38 balls, Matthew Kleinveldt scrambled to 29 from 51 and Lesiba Ngoepe scratched out 25 from 45 balls but the home side were simply never in the race.
The visitors also initially struggled against disciplined bowling on a two-paced pitch, limping to 87 for five just over the halfway point of the innings, with Jordan Hermann anchoring the innings with 35 from 61 balls but their struggles were exemplified by Patrick Kruger’s crawl to 14 from 41 balls.
But Muthusamy was having none of it and tore into the bowling as though he was batting on a different pitch, striking six fours and three sixes in his brilliant innings which came from just 82 balls.
Muthusamy found a willing and capable ally in Andile Mogakane, who followed his captain’s example with a punchy 58 from 62 balls with seven fours and a pair of sixes during a potentially match-changing sixth-wicket partnership of 143 in just 20 overs.
Kerwin Mungroo was tremendous at both ends of the innings to finish with 3-33 from his 10 overs and allrounder Ruan de Swart claimed 2-52 but Duan Jansen (8-0-68-1) suffered at Muthusamy’s and Matthew Kleinveldt’s two overs of off-spin (2-0-20-0) was a gamble which did not pay off.
The Dragons climbed to 13 points to join Boland at the top of the log while the Warriors hopes of a knockout berth were dented although they remain in contention for the Eliminator match.
NW DRAGONS: Janneman Malan, Rubin Hermann, Taheer Isaacs (wkt), Matthew Kleinveldt, Wihan Lubbs (captain), Lesiba Ngoepe, Ruan de Swardt, Duan Jansen, Caleb Seleka, Kerwin Mungroo, Lutendo Tsanwani .
WARRIORS: Jordan Hermann, Jean du Plessis (wkt), Matthew Breetzke, Sinethemba Qeshile, Patrick Kruger, Senuran Muthusamy (captain), Andile Mogakane, Beyers Swanepoel, CJ King, Jason Raubenheimer, Alfred Mothoa.