There were smiles in Border Cricket at the weekend as the Eastern Cape Iinyathi men’s and women’s teams attained a rare feat of both being on the winning side of their respective competitions.
The euphoria started on Friday as the men’s senior team kept their hopes alive of making it to the Super Eight of the ProCup.
They beat the Limpopo Impalas by three runs in Polokwane, marking their first away victory of the competition as well as season.
That win meant they moved to 10 points in Pool B. They are behind the table-topping Dolphins (20), Warriors (17), Lions (15) and Garden Route Badgers (13).
The log predicament means the Iinyathi have to win their last match against the Warriors at the Buffalo Park Cricket ground on Saturday and hope for favours in other results.
They will head to the game with confidence especially after their superb balanced performance with both bat and ball against the Impalas.
In that game, the Iinyathi top order rose to the occasion and made runs.
Nathan Roux blasted 44 runs, Christiaan du Toit and Jerome Bossr had 35 scores, while Michael Copeland belted 45 in 31 balls as the Iinyathi made 166 runs for the loss of three wickets.
Hardus Coetzer was the pick of the Iinyathi bowlers with figures of 3/28 while the other guys kept things tight at the other end.
They will face a Warriors team that has been lethal in the past few games.
The Gqeberha side dismantled the Badgers by nine wickets in the match in Oudtshoorn on Friday.
They bowled the Badgers all out for 68 in 16.2 overs.
The defending T20 champions made light work of the modest target, with Matthew de Villiers leading the charge in an unbeaten 50.
Andile Mokgakane supported him with an unbeaten 13 as the Warriors raced to 70/1 in just 8.2 overs to seal the emphatic win and secure a bonus point.
At Buffalo Park in KuGompo City, the women beat Boland by 28 runs in the Women’s One Day Cup in Division 2 on Saturday.
It was head coach Lolwethu Dekeza’s first official match in charge of the team.
