da betcris： Nic Pothas provided the sort of innings that was once a regular feature ofhis repertoire, but has been missing for the last couple of seasons, to takethe Highveld Strikers to a thrilling five-wicket victory with two balls oftheir 45 overs to spare
Grant Shimmin10-Jan-2001Nic Pothas provided the sort of innings that was once a regular feature ofhis repertoire, but has been missing for the last couple of seasons, to takethe Highveld Strikers to a thrilling five-wicket victory with two balls oftheir 45 overs to spare.Pothas belted 79 off just 77 balls, the last 26 coming offjust 18 deliveries, to see his side through to their victory target of 226in 44.4 overs, after they had faced an asking rate of eight to the over inthe latter stages. Forty-eight were needed off the last six, then 31 off thelast four and 18 off the last two. That was when Pothas really came into hisown as Kenny Benjamin’s last over went for 14, taking the match away fromthe visitors.It was a bitter pill to swallow for the team from Benoni, just 35km away, asthey suffered their third defeat in six days to see their chances ofreaching the semi-finals diminish even further. Prior to their match againstBoland on January 5, Easterns had been sitting pretty with four wins fromfive matches. Now, despite gaining a bonus point in each of those threematches, they find themselves outside the top four with two difficultmatches, away to Eastern Province and at home to Free State, to come.In truth, the visitor’s defeat was partly of their own making. Having wonthe toss and chosen to bat, Easterns got off to a great start as Mike Rindeland new recruit Andre Seymore put on 120 for the first wicket, before beingseparated at the halfway mark of the innings, in the 23rd over, when Seymorewas bowled by Clive Eksteen for 46.At that point, they were looking good for a total beyond 250, but Rindel ranhimself out just 12 runs later for 60, made off just 63 balls, including 22off Eksteen’s first two overs, and after that, Easterns were never able tosustain the same scoring rate. It fell below five to the over, only gettingup to that mark again through some good late hitting and running by captainDeon Jordaan and Aldo van den Berg. That enabled them to reach 225 forseven, which proved to be just short of what they needed.For the Strikers, after a woeful season, the victory over a team includingmany former Strikers players salvaged some much-needed pride, given thatthey can no longer qualify for the semi-finals.