Mitchell van Buuren’s carefully paced innings of 60 not out from 48 deliveries guided the DP World Lions to a tense, five-wicket final-over victory in their final CSA Pro20 Cup match against Dafabet Boland in Paarl on Wednesday afternoon.
Requiring 135 for victory the visitors crashed to 25-3 and 49-5 before Van Buuren was joined by 19-year-old allrounder Morteza Manack in the 13th over for a match-winning partnership of 53 which clinched victory with just two balls remaining.
Boland’s below-par total of 134-8 was built around Ferisco Adams’s 45 from 36 balls after the home side had also struggled in the first half, limping to 55-4 after nine overs with spinners Bjorn Fortuin (2-27) and Nqaba Peter (2-23) proving typically difficult to score against on the slow Boland Stadium pitch.
Van Buuren did not record a single four in his innings but cleared the rope three times, carefully waiting for exactly the right ball to treat with his renown power and timing while Manack belied his inexperience and offered mature support.
Boland used seven bowlers which looked an odd decision given the best of them, offspinner Imran Manack, finished with an ‘incomplete’ analysis of 3-0-8-2 while left-arm spinner Siyabonga Mahima, who enjoyed a profitable tournament otherwise, was the most expensive bowler in the match with 4-0-35-0.
The result sees the Lions move to the top of the log with Boland remaining fourth in the final semifinal place – although all that could change with the final match of the Super Eight stage which takes place in Centurion at 6pm.
A victory for the Dafabet Warriors will see them move above the Lions to the top of the log but a bonus-point victory for the Momentum Multiply Titans will take them above Boland into the final semifinal place.
The semifinals and final will all be played on Saturday, November 14, at Newlands in Cape Town.