OUDTSHOORN NEWS - It was a tough weekend for SWD when Pool B of the Africa T20 Cup was hosted in Oudtshoorn. The Oudtshoorn based team lost all four their matches with Gauteng ending up as pool winners.
In their first encounter against Gauteng that was played at the Bridgton Sports Grounds, the visitors posted 170/3 in their allotted 20 overs to which SWD replied with 130 all out (19.5 overs). Obus Pienaar (27 from 21 balls) and Jean du Plessis (38 from 31 balls) were the only batsmen who showed their skills as SWD were comprehensively beaten by 40 runs.
On Saturday Free State scored 174/8 and restricted SWD to 150 (all out) to record a 24 runs victory. Neil Hornbuckle (28 from 21 balls) and Aviwe Mgijima (29 from 24 balls) were SWD's top performers with the bat.
In their match against Northerns only Obus Pienaar (31 from 29 balls) contributed with the bat as SWD was restricted to 120/9. Northerns recorded a bonus point victory after they reached the winning target (121/1) in the 16th over for a nine-wicket victory.
On Sunday SWD posted a competitive 148/5 against Zimbabwe Select thanks to Zubayr Hamza's fine knock of 75 from 59 balls (1x6, 8x4)). With losing three early wickets with their score at only 7 for 3, Zimbabwe found themselves in deep trouble and SWD had high hopes of a win.
But, with a fourth-wicket partnership of 124 between Tarisai Musakanda (56 from 44 balls) and Ryan Murray (77 from 59 balls), Zimbabwe recovered and reached a winning target of 150/5 with only three balls remaining.
After the matches, last weekend, the Gauteng Strikers, together with the other pool winners, Border, North West and Easterns, will now advance to the knock-out stages of the event which will be hosted in East London this coming Sunday and Monday.
Spin bowler, Jaco Janse van Rensburg, in action for SWD against Northerns.
Photos: Johan Coetzer
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