WSB Western Province need 186 to register their first CSA 1Day Cup win of the season, after bowling out Goldrush Boland for 185 at Newlands.
The returning Nandre Burger, who later finished his ten over allocation with 4-30, roasted the top order with a trio of early wickets.
Having won the toss and opted to bat, it saw the visitors melt to 22-4 as the mercury pushed beyond 40 degrees Celsius in Cape Town.
Jhedli van Briesies led the fightback with 59 off 86 balls but it was something of a lone cause, with his team leaving 17 balls unused on a draining afternoon at the foot of Table Mountain.
Burger’s comeback paid instant dividends for the home side, bowling the bewildered Grant Roelofsen around his legs for a golden duck with the second ball of the match.
One became two with the first delivery of the left-armer’s second, too, tempting Ethan-John Cunningham into a waft outside off stump and through to Kyle Verreynne.
Blayde Capell picked off a pair of boundaries across a lightning outfield in an attempt to kickstart the innings.
But he became Burger’s third victim and Verreynne’s second, nudging behind off the back foot to depart innocuously for a 15-ball 13..
Then went Lehan Botha, losing his off stump to Dane Paterson for five to leave his side staring down the barrel.
The heat was taking its toll, not least on umpire Dennis Smith, who had to head for the sanctuary of the Pavilion with Wilhelm Nel stepping in.
Likewise the sting came out of a nevertheless disciplined bowling attack as the shine came off the white ball, with Clyde Fortuin and Van Briesies muddling along at less than three-an-over.
It took until the 18th over, the metronomic Paterson’s sixth, for the Boland 50 to come up.
The pair were establishing a platform of sorts, but Fortuin’s 53-ball effort came to an end with 26 to his name when he fell edging to slip off the wily left-arm spin of Kyle Simmons.
Ferisco Adams injected a bit of life into the visitors’ innings only to depart for 21 when he swatted Mihlali Mpongwana up into the legside and safely into the clutches of Sinalo Gobeni at square leg.
Van Briesies helped them limp into three figures in the 32nd over with just four wickets in hand.
He then followed Adams in targeting Mpongwana and with more success, striking back-to-back boundaries in flamboyant fashion.
Belligerent support from Imran Manack helped build the momentum and Van Briesies went to his half century off 78 balls with a nudged single.
In launching the first ball from the returning Burger into the stands, it brought up the 50 partnership off just 45 deliveries, before he whacked one straight back at the bowler, who couldn’t cling on.
Van Briesies was otherwise in complete command until he dabbed into the onside and set off for a ludicrous single, was rightly sent back by Manack and saw his wicket broken from six yards short of his ground.
The demise of Manack came soon after, clean bowled by Burger for 24.
Paterson then tailed one in to rattle the timbers of Glenton Stuurman before Beuran Hendricks bounced out Akhona Mnyaka to finish the job.
WSB WESTERN PROVINCE: Jiveshan Pillay, Valentine Kitime, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Daniel Smith (capt), Juan James, Mihlali Mpongwana, Kyle Simmonds, Beuran Hendricks, Nandre Burger, Mbulelo Dube, Sinalo Gobeni.
GOLDRUSH BOLAND: Blayde Capell, Grant Roelofsen, Lehan Botha, Clyde Fortuin (wk), Jhedi van Briesies, Ferisco Adams, Ethan-John Cunningham, Imran Manack, Glenton Stuurman (capt), Yves Kamanzi, Akhona Mnyaka.