da dobrowin： Cape Town, Jan 19 – Western Province had to work hard for a narrowfive-run win over their less glamourous neighbours, Boland, and in theprocess keep alive their faint hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals ofthe Standard Bank Cup
MWP19-Jan-2001Cape Town, Jan 19 – Western Province had to work hard for a narrowfive-run win over their less glamourous neighbours, Boland, and in theprocess keep alive their faint hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals ofthe Standard Bank Cup.It couldn’t have come much closer for Province, who bowled and fieldedextremely well to defend a total which had always looked vulnerable. Thesides were playing on the same strip on which South African rattled upnearly 300 just over a week ago, and the home side’s failure evern to pass200 looked to have signalled the end of their Cup hopes.Defending champions Boland will rue a missed opportunity in the lion’sden of Newlands, but their biggest disappointment will be the fact that thedefence of their title ended with so much of the season still remaining.With the exception of Justin Ontong with 66, their batsmen struggled asProvince’s spin atack of Paul Adams and Claude Henderson took a grip on thematch.Even so, a belligerent career-best 27 from Neil Carter took Boland towithin a couple of lusty blows of victory, but when he was brilliantlycaught by vice-captain Alan Dawson at the second attempt, the equation hadbecome too great an ask.Earlier Province had made a miserable start as they looked to capitaliseon winning the toss – always a helping hand in a day/night game at Newlands.Indeed if it were not for a fifth wicket partnership of 43 between AshwellPrince and Lloyd Ferreira, the target could have been so much less for thevisitors. Prince, who averages close to 70 in domestic limited overs cricketthis year, earned the man-of-the-match award for his crucial 61.