da poker： CAPE TOWN, Dec 27 – Western Province’s newfound ability to defend a totalsaw them edge ever closer to a Standard Bank Cup semi-final place with a50-run victory over Free State although their ultimate fate rests in thehands of others
MWP27-Dec-2000CAPE TOWN, Dec 27 – Western Province’s newfound ability to defend a totalsaw them edge ever closer to a Standard Bank Cup semi-final place with a50-run victory over Free State although their ultimate fate rests in thehands of others.Their 244 for five was too much for Free State and once opener Kosie Venterwas fourth out for a well made 80, the visitors’ Christmas goose was welland truly cooked.Province’s success in claiming the last Free State wicket with two balls tospare also gave them the bonus point that may yet prove crucial.Mind you, Province were prepared to give Free State a life or two to make itmore entertaining for a 5 000-strong crowd which was quite as healthy asthat for the Durban Test match.Herschelle Gibbs, Lloyd Ferreira and HD Ackerman all dropped catches (Gibbs’by far the hardest, Ackerman’s the easiest) but some sparkling glove workfrom Andrew Puttick made up for those lapses.Thami Tsolekile’s promoted understudy produced two stumpings and a catch offthe slow left arm bowling of Claude Henderson to vitally assist the FreeState innings losing its way in mid-innings.His first as the most important. Wiaan Smit – dropped by Ferreira before hereached double figures – was threatening to help the visitors to theirtarget in a 75-run second-wicket partnership withVenter.But his attempt to go down the track to the Henderson in tears and whenMorne van Wyk was brilliantly caught by the diving Graham Smith on the deepmidwicket boundary for 21 it was the cue for four Free State wickets to fallfor 16 runs. There was no way back from there.Western Province’s 244 was founded around the efforts of the prolific NeilJohnson and Ashwell Prince.Johnson thumped his third score of 90 or more in the competition thisseason – 91 this time – and shared a 97-run partnership with Prince (67) in118-ball to give the innings real impetus after it threatened to losedirection at 68 for three when they came together.Johnson made his runs from 115 balls and thundered 11 fours while thefleet-footed Prince scampered to his runs in 75 balls with four fours andone six.With Lloyd Ferreira back to lash 18 in nine balls at the death, Province hadgiven themselves the kind of total that is expected to be defensible as thedew sets in at Newlands.Many of the crowd had probably turned out to see Herschelle Gibbs continuehis rich vein of form. he didn’t. After three balls the prolific openerstepped away in an attempt to cut Bakkes and was caught behind.