Tristan Stubbs and Sibonelo Makhanya smashed dazzling half centuries to lead the Dafabet Warriors to a convincing 20-run victory against the WSB Eastern Storm in their CSA Pro20 Cup match at Willowmoore Park in Benoni on Sunday morning.
Opener Makhanya hammered 74 from 42 balls (5x4, 6x6) while captain Stubbs was even more devastating during an unbeaten 48 from just 19 balls with five sixes and two fours leading the Warriors to an imposing 206-4 after being asked to bat first.
Easterns opener, Ronan Hermann, briefly fought fire with fire charging to 56 from 32 balls while Brayden Hicks struck 22 from 12 with Warriors seamer Kerwin Mungroo baring the brunt of the early assault conceding 35 runs from his opening two overs.
But the fire was extinguished by left arm wrist-spinner, Thomas Kaber, who trapped Hermann lbw and teased a catch from Hicks in consecutive overs to finish with the commendable figures of 4-0-28-2 as the home side subsided to 186-7.
Stubbs and Makhanya were ably supported by opener Jordan Hermann (33) and JP King (25) in the middle order but it was their rapid rate of scoring which took the game away from Easterns and condemned them to a bottom placed finish on the Super Eight log.
The Warriors, meanwhile, moved to the top with four wins and 20 points from their six matches, one point ahead of the DP World Lions (19) and four ahead of third-placed Boland (16) while the YesPlay WP Cobras (15) occupy the fourth and final semifinal place with once round of matches to be played by all of the top four.
The SWD Garden Route Badgers (12) and Momentum Multiply Titans (10 points with two matches remaining) can still qualify for the semifinals with victories in their final matches provided other results go their way while the Hollywoodbets Dolphins and Eastern Storm have been eliminated.
EASTERN STORM: Kabelo Sekhukhune, Ronan Hermann (wkt), Brayden Hicks, Christopher Britz (captain), Jurie Snyman, Aryan Gopalan, Tiaan Kuhn, Dewan Marais, Amaan Khan, Tumelo Simelane, Thabiso Lekhoana.
WARRIORS: Jordan Hermann, Sibonelo Makhanya, JP King, Tristan Stubbs (captain/wkt), Patrick Kruger, Andile Mokgakane, Senuran Muthusamy, Beuran Hendricks, Wesley Bedja, Kerwin Mungroo, Thomas Kaber