Western Province join SWD in T20 playoffs

Kyle Verreynne drove a towering six off the second ball of the penultimate over to take Six Gun Grill Western Province into the playoffs of the CSA Provincial T20 Knock Out at the Diamond Oval in Kimberley on Sunday.

In completing victory over the Northern Cape Heat by six wickets, Western Province also sent the Lions home. Having reached their target of 164 in 18.2 overs (they needed to do so within 19.1 overs), they overtook the Lions – also on eight points – by virtue of a superior net run rate.

The two teams that will now go forward from Group A are Western Province and log-leaders South Western Districts.

Group A has been well contested with the Heat, despite losing all three of their matches, also going close to winning all three. Their Achilles heel has been their outfielding and particularly their catching, dropping five against the Lions and two crucial chances against WP. Ironically, the Heat's Ernest Kemm caught probably the catch of the weekend when he leapt high on the long-off boundary to nonchalantly pluck Zubayr Hamza’s well-struck drive out of the air with his left hand.

Hamza, who had earlier struck a century in WP’s first match, was again the mainstay of the innings, striking 62 in 54 balls and almost seeing his side home. He had earlier shared excellent partnerships of 63 with fellow opener Tony de Zorzi (30 in 23 balls) and 62 with the destructive Jonathan Bird (42 off 23 balls). Both Hamza and Bird had been the beneficiaries of the Heat’s fumbling fielders.

Earlier, the Heat had looked like submitting tamely to defeat when they lost half their wickets inside the first 10 overs for just 58 after Wayne Parnell had won the toss and put them in to bat. But then Evan Jones and Beyers Swanepoel launched an excellent recovery – including 90 runs off the last seven overs – that enabled them to reach an unlikely 163 for eight.

After the initial breakthrough by Tshepo Moreki, snaring opener Kemm caught behind to a slower delivery that lifted sharply, it was Parnell himself who made a double breakthrough in his first over when he had Rivaldo Moonsamy caught at mid-off and Qaasim Adams held at third man in the space of three balls.

Things got worse for the Heat before the halfway mark with Parnell grabbing his third wicket when he trapped Aubrey Swanepoel leg before while left-arm spinner Kyle Simmonds bowled a round-arm slider to clean up Hanu Viljoen for three.

At that stage, it seemed that WP simply needed to mop up the tail to give themselves a golden chance of a bonus-point victory, but Evan Jones and Beyers Swanepoel had other ideas. Jones struck a belligerent half-century in 35 balls (3x4s, 3x6s) while Swanepoel was even more productive, smashing an unbeaten 39 in 18 balls to take the Heat to their total with 48 coming off the last three overs.

NORTHERN CAPE HEAT: Ernest Kemm, Rivaldo Moonsamy, Orapeleng Motlhoaring, Aubrey Swanepoel (capt), Evan Jones, Hanu Viljoen (wk), Qaasim Adams, Beyers Swanepoel, Johan van Dyk, Andrew Rasemene, Jerome Xaba

SIX GUN GRILL WESTERN PROVINCE: Zubayr Hamza, Tony de Zorzi, Kyle Verreynne(w), Jonathan Bird, Wayne Parnell(c), Kyle Simmonds, Daniel Smith, Jordan Woolf, Beuran Hendricks, Tshepo Moreki, Yves Kamanzi