Successful homecoming for Jansen

Marco Jansen celebrated his return to the Auto Investments Dragons with a three-wicket haul as he helped his side restrict WSB Western Province to a total of 142 for nine in their CSA T20 Challenge at the JB Marks Oval on Friday evening.

The Dragons need 143 runs to win.

Jansen took the first and last wickets of the innings in his first outing for the Dragons. The lanky left-armer celebrated their reunion with his twin, Duan, in style. The brothers combined for the first wicket taken by the home side.

Marco Jansen, who bowled the first over, did not take long before finding his range and grabbing his first wicket of the day. The Proteas star drew David Bedingham into trying to hit past long-off, but the Western Province opener did get enough power behind the ball, which allowed Duan Jansen to take a diving catch.

The Dragons' trio of pacers, Marco and Duan Jansen and Kerwin Mungroo mostly dealt in hard length deliveries in the powerplay, and this helped in limiting Western Province's scoring options. The visitors had managed only five boundaries on their way to 40 for two after six overs.

Eddie Moore found the going hard in the powerplay, facing the Dragons' pace trio, so much so that at one point he was on 19 from 18 balls. The Western Province opener took a liking to Achille Cloete's medium pacers and crunched three boundaries in Cloete's first over, which elevated his run rate.

However, Moore's time at the crease did not extend much further beyond Cloete's train-wreck over. The left-hander was dismissed 10 balls later trying to smash Lubbe out of the ground.

The Western Province batters struggled to get used to the surface and Wihan Lubbe made things a lot more difficult by introducing spin into the attack. The Dragons' captain bowled tight lines and was rewarded with two middle overs wickets for his labour.

Caleb Seleka, the Dragons' other spinner gave little away, stringing dot balls in his spell. The legspinner bagged George Linde's wicket in his two-over spell to help pin the visitors on the back foot.

The Jansen brothers combined for another wicket, a carbon copy of the Bedingham dismissal, when Marco dismissed Mihlali Mpongwana in the 19th over. Mpongwana was the last recognised batter for Western Province and any hope of the visitors reaching 160 died with his dismissal. Jansen completed his homecoming when he made it two in the over with the dismissal of Wesley Bedja four balls later.

Jansen finished the match with three wickets for 34 runs in four overs. Mungroo and Lubbe also took a brace of wickets each, though the pacer had a better economy, having conceded 22 runs in four overs. Seleka and Duan Jansen rounded up the list of wicket-takers. They took a wicket each.

DRAGONS: Meeka-eel Prince (wk), Rubin Hermann, Janneman Malan, Wihan Lubbe (c), Lesiba Ngoepe, Thamsanqa Khumalo, Duan Jansen, Marco Jansen, Caleb Seleka, Kerwin Mungroo, Achille Cloete

WESTERN PROVINCE: Eddie Moore, David Bedingham, Daniel Smith (w), Valentine Kitime, George Linde, Mihlali Mpongwana, Abdullah Bayoumy, Kyle Simmonds, Beuran Hendricks (c), Mthiwekhaya Nabe, Wesley Bedja