Dragons beat Province by 17 runs in thriller

The North West Dragons upset Six Gun Grill Western Province by 17 runs in a drama-filled CSA One Day Cup match at the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom on Friday.

In a close encounter in which centuries were scored by Senuran Muthusamy for the Dragons and Jonathan Bird for Western Province, the outcome was uncertain up to the moment when Bird was dismissed for a commanding 116 in 126 balls off the first ball of the 48th over delivered by Dwaine Pretorius.

There was a half-hearted appeal for a catch behind and Bird seemed bewildered when he was given out. The left-handed opener had batted with complete authority throughout his innings, striking nine fours and four sixes in an innings where he was under pressure throughout.

It was the second List A hundred for the 20-year-old and he hardly deserved to be on the losing side.

Bird featured in a third-wicket partnership of 80 with Zubayr Hamza (27) but thereafter his partners struggled to stay with him until Mihlali Mpongwana came to the crease with Province looking fragile on 156 for seven in the 34th over.

The tall fast bowler, who looked remarkably assured at the crease, actually dominated the eighth-wicket stand of 55 with Bird until he was caught on the cover boundary with five overs to go for 34 in 44 balls, including four fours.

Pretorius was the most successful Dragons bowler with 3-40, but Nono Pongolo, with 2-32 in seven overs, played an important part in his team’s victory as did leg-spinner Caleb Seleka with 2-36 in 10 overs.

Delano Potgieter played his part early on in the Province innings, getting rid of the ever-dangerous Richard Levi cheaply as well as yorking Tony de Zorzi.

Earlier, Senuran Muthusamy struck a tremendous debut List A 100 to enable the Dragons to recover to a respectable 243 for nine in their innings after they had been put in to bat by Province.

The visitors’ decision looked to have paid off when lanky seamer Mpongwana – later to star with the bat – and left-arm spinner Kyle Simmonds precipitated a middle-order collapse in which five wickets fell for nine runs.

At one stage Mpongwana took 3-11 in five overs while Simmonds took two wickets in four balls.

Teetering on 88 for six, the Dragons were then rescued by Muthusamy and wicketkeeper-batsman Khanya Cotani who added 120 in 24 overs for the seventh wicket.

Both men worked the ball nicely for ones and twos square of the wicket, while Muthusamy struck a number of lofted extra-cover and straight drives for four off spinners Georg Linde and Junaid Dawood.

Dawood eventually trapped Cotani leg before for a valuable 41 in 62 balls, but Muthusamy took his innings to the final over when he was eventually run out attempting a second run after he had completed his century in 106 balls, including 10 fours.

Earlier, Heino Kuhn struck an excellent 49 off 50 balls, including eight fours, to set up the innings, but Simmonds quickly disposed of Shaylen Pillay and Chris Britz before Mpongwana snared the valuable scalp of Kuhn before getting rid of Dwaine Pretorius and Delano Potgieter cheaply.

North West:Lesego Senokwane, Heino Kuhn (capt), Shaylen Pillay, Christopher Britz, Dwaine Pretorius, Senuran Muthusamy, Delano Potgieter, Khanya Cotani (wk), Duan Jansen, Nono Pongolo, Caleb Seleka

Western Province:Jonathan Bird, Richard Levi, Zubayr Hamza, Tony de Zorzi (capt), Kyle Verreynne (wk), George Linde, Wayne Parnell, Kyle Simmonds, Mihlali Mpongwana, Tshepo Moreki, Junaid Dawood