The North-West Dragons suffered a tight six-run defeat against Boland in the CSA 1-Day Cup at the JB Marks Oval yesterday evening (Saturday, March 7) in a shortened 27-over match.
This was due to a wet outfield after rain had poured down this past Friday in Potchefstroom. The shortened match created an intriguing, albeit exciting encounter with the bowlers from both sides having a field day.
The Dragons won the toss and bowled first, dismissing Boland for 121 in 23.2 overs. Caleb Seleka took 4/15 as he utilised the spin-friendly conditions. Migael Pretorius (2/23) was also impressive up front. Grant Roelofsen (39 from 37 balls) top-scored for the visitors.
The Dragons’ reply got off to a horrible start as they soon found themselves on 16/3 with Boland spinner, Imran Manack, creating damage. It went from bad to worse when Rubin Hermann was run-out after a mix-up with Lesiba Ngoepe to put the Dragons in a heap of trouble at 35/5.
Ngoepe top-scored for the Dragons with 30 (46 balls), but in general the batters struggled to put on any meaningful partnership.
The Dragons though still kept plugging away and were on 93/9 with only Pretorius and Seleka at the crease. Pretorius hit a couple of superb shots and got the Dragons within an unlikely 7 runs of victory with three overs left.
It was not meant to be as he was caught and bowled going for a big shot off Akhona Mnyaka, who had bowled superbly for his 1/9 from 4.1 overs.
