A Winning Start to the CSA 1 Day Cup for Six Gun Grill Western Province
Six Gun Grill Western Province opened their CSA 1-Day Cup campaign with a tense four wicket victory over the Hollywoodbets Dolphins at Six Gun Grill Newlands on Sunday 4th December.
A crowd of over 1,000 saw Western Province Captain and Birthday Boy George Linde elect to field first, a decision that proved to be a good one after Nandre Burger (3/41) removed Tshepang Dithole for none and Jon Jon Smuts for three in his opening 2 overs. Mihlali “Popos” Mpongwana (2/20) came on as first change and claimed two wickets in the 14th over to see off Jason Smith for seven and Andile Phehlukwayo without any runs. This saw the Dolphins slump to 24/5.
Batting at number 7, Dolphins hero of the day Bradley Porteous scored his maiden List A century to rescue the Dolphins after the onslaught delivered by the hosts. Porteous (100) and Ruan de Swardt (28) put up the first meaningful partnership of 42 runs for the 6th wicket. De Swardt was trapped lbw by Junaid Dawood’s wily leg-breaks (2/64) in the 24th over (Dolphins 66/6)
Porteous and Eathan Bosch (45) then combined for 113 runs as the Dolphins finished the innings on 226/9. Beuran Hendricks (2/23) was clinical in his ten overs, claiming the wickets of Porteous and Grant Roelofsen (2).
Man of the Match Edward Moore (94 off 115) provided solidity and then fireworks as the Province number 3 made his List A debut for the home team. After the loss of Tony de Zorzi (32), he steadied the ship with a 73-run partnership with Jono Bird (51), which was key to the hosts chasing the 227 to win with five balls to spare. Mpongwana (28*) once again showed his talent as an allrounder, as he and Moore added crucial runs (55) to propel Six Gun Grill Western Province to 229/6, winning the game by four wickets.
The winning momentum from the most recent 4 Day Series games was carried into this match, with coach Salieg Nackerdien and his charges looking to continue this trend as they travel to the Mangaung Oval for the match against the ITEC Knights on Wednesday 7th, where the first ball will be bowled at 13h00.