Celebration and jubilation were on full display at the Wanderers in Johannesburg this past Sunday when North West Dragons paceman, Craig Alexander, uprooted the stumps of Ndumiso Mvelase to seal the CSA Provincial One Day Challenge title for the maroon machine.
The North West Dragons are now the 2017/18 CSA Provincial One Day Champions after a brilliant bowling display saw them claim a 34-run win against Gauteng in the final on the latter’s home ground on Sunday, 8 April.
After being bowled out for a small total of 179 on a difficult batting wicket, the Dragons needed a bowling performance of note and that is exactly what Wihan Lubbe (3/21) and Bjorn Fortuin (2/27) did to restrict Gauteng to 145 all out.
One of the Dragons’ stars in the final was Janneman Malan with 69, whose invaluable runs gave his side a total to defend.
The bowlers bowled brilliantly as a unit as the spin of Lubbe and Bjorn Fortuin wreaked havoc.
This victory is just desserts to a team that has played consistent cricket under head coach, Monty Jacobs, throughout the season.
‘It is a real relief to finally win the title. Sport is not always fair and this time, things luckily went our way. The pitch was difficult to play on and we knew anything close to 200 would be difficult to chase. We won the key moments and I think Wihan Lubbe’s wickets were one of the key turning points,’ expressed Jacobs.
The North West captain, Kagiso Rapulana, won the toss and decided to bat first to get the runs on the board.
The Malan brothers, Janneman and André, opened the batting and put together a 44-run partnership before Gauteng’s destroyer in chief, Nandré Burger (3/37) claimed André’s wicket for 17.
Burger then followed that up with the wicket of Wihan Lubbe for a duck to leave the Dragons on 3/49. The Dragons’ top run scorer this season, Richardt Frenz was also dismissed cheaply for 1.

Janneman Malan was the only batsman to get any prominent runs and, together with Rapulana (33) put on a steady 79-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
The rest of the batting line-up crumbled as the Dragons could only post 179 all out.
In reply, the debutant, Marco Jansen, still a matriculant at Potchefstroom Gimnasium, got the first wicket for the Dragons with his left arm pace doing the damage. Jansen opened the bowling with the experienced Craig Alexander and did not let nerves get the better of him with a brilliant opening spell of 1/22 in six overs.
Wihan Lubbe did further damage with his miserly right arm off spin as he picked up the big wickets of Ryan Rickelton (20), Tshepang Dithole (19) and captain, Dominic Hendricks for 8 to leave Gauteng at 66/4.
This was just the injection of confidence North West needed and they did not look back from there on. Wickets fell at regular intervals as Gauteng stared down the barrel at 88/6 at one stage.
With his 39 (37), Mvelase was the only one to offer any real resistance and, when he lost his and Gauteng’s 10th wicket it, was all said and done.
North West Cricket CEO, Vincent Prior, was also thrilled with the win that, according to him, showcased the union’s strength in depth.
‘It’s fantastic to get rid of the trophy drought that the Dragons side has experienced over the past few years. It is great to have both men’s and women’s Dragons teams as the provincial champions. It shows our intent to compete with the bigger unions.’