Thrilling last ball win for Easterns after Nel bags six
Andre Nel was the Easterns hero as the Benoni team continued their victorious run at their Willowmoore Park stronghold on Friday night, holding on to beat Griquas by a tantalising one wicket off the last ball of their 45 overs in a Standard Bank Cup
Staff and Agencies
02-Dec-2000
Andre Nel was the Easterns hero as the Benoni team continued their
victorious run at their Willowmoore Park stronghold on Friday night, holding
on to beat Griquas by a tantalising one wicket off the last ball of their 45
overs in a Standard Bank Cup day-night encounter.
Man of the match Nel wasn't the player who hit the winning runs. That honour
belonged to Elliott Mabena, who was on strike as the home team set out to
score 13 off the last over for an unlikely victory.
Mabena, who finished unbeaten on 17, got 11 of them and there were two leg-byes as Easterns squeaked home with a three off the last ball.
Nel, the last man in, was Mabena's partner in an unbroken 10th-wicket stand
of 19, which carried them to what seemed initially an easy victory target
of just 158, but his major role was in keeping that target down, with a
brilliant spell of six for 27 off his nine overs.
An early four-wicket burst from Nel reduced the visitors, who had won the
toss, to 23 for four, before a stand of 68 between Loots Bosman (40) and
Wendell Bossenger (48 not out) at least ensured that they would get beyond
100.
The target looked a formality and that view seemed to be endorsed by an
opening stand of 71 between Dylan Jennings, very much the junior partner
with 12, and the evergreen Mike Rindel, who made 53, the only Easterns
batsman to get beyond Mabena's score of 17.
However, Easterns suddenly went into freefall, collapsing to 84 for five,
and it was only a partnership of 35 between Derek Crookes (14) and Pierre de
Bruyn (16) for the sixth wicket, and then the effort of Mabena and Nel for
the last that carried the home side to victory in one of the most exciting
limited overs games ever seen at the ground.