Storm cruises to victory against Heat
Aron Visser top-scored for Eastern Storm with 40 runs, including three boundaries and two maximums.
The Eastern Storm sent the Northern Cape Heat packing with a clinical all-round performance in their fourth CSA T20 Challenge division two match at Willowmoore Park on March 15.
Geoffrey Toyana’s charges made it two out of two to continue their resurgence with a brilliant batting and bowling display as they claimed a 57-run victory against a Heat team that lacked firepower in all departments.
Batting first after winning the toss, the batsmen powered the hosts to 174/7 and the bowlers withstood the heat brought by the Northern Cape side as they dismissed them for 117.
The damage was done in the power-play as the visitors lost three wickets for only 32 runs. Leander Lubbe began the rout with the wicket of opener Jonathan Vandiar in the first over.
Vandiar (8 off five balls) scored a pair of boundaries off the bowler but Lubbe came back with a jaffer that breached the batsman’s defences, sending the bails flying.
The Storm struck again in the third over when Tumelo Simelane bowled Christoffel Klijnhans (6 off eight balls) with his first ball before Andrew Rasemene had Roman Terblanche (2 off seven balls) caught by Divan Posthumus.
Rasemene, who bowled with discipline all afternoon, pitched it short and Terblache went for the pull but the ball hit the middle of the bat and flew straight to Posthumus at cover as the visitors found themselves in trouble on 32/3.
Grant Thomson (32 off 30) and Hanu Viljoen (25 off 27) offered some resistance for the Heat as they put on 43 for the fourth wicket, taking their team to 75/3 but Storm captain Shane Dadswell struck twice in the 14th over.
The medium pacer first had Thomson caught behind by Danie Rossouw before Viljoen tried a maximum but his shot was cupped comfortably by Lubbe at long-off.
Kabelo Chibi was run-out by substitute Chad Classen and Rasemene got his second of the day when he dismissed Johannes van Dyk with a short ball the batsman edged to Rossouw behind as the Heat lost four wickets for just three runs.
Dadswell brought on Thula Ngcobo and the bowler cleaned the tail with the wickets of Benjamin van Rensburg and Jerome Xaba.
Ngcobo dismissed Van Rensburg with a yorker that clipped the bottom of the bat and Rossouw dived low to his right for the catch. He unleashed another toe-crusher that Xaba tried to drive but the ball swung inside, uprooting the leg stump.
Basheeru-Deen Walters scored a quick-fire 15 at the death but was bowled with the last ball of the match by Posthumus.
At the start of play, Aron Visser scored a brilliant 40 off 21 balls as he shared 49 for the fifth wicket with Posthumus (29 off 21 balls) after the dismissals of Rossouw (6), Shaylen Pillay (22) and Devan Marais (one), as well as Kabelo Sekhukhune (39 off 28 balls).
Visser’s knock included three fours and two maximums before he was caught at long-on by Van Rensburg, who made amends for dropping the batsman on the same spot earlier.
Dadswell added 10 and Lubbe 11 to help their team to a competitive 174/7.
The Storm will face the Itec Knights in Bloemfontein on March 20 and will host Limpopo Impalas on March 24 at Willowmoore Park.
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