Ken Borland

Western Province batted with tremendous authority on Wednesday to chase down a record score of 164 and beat the Eastern Province Warriors by seven wickets with 17 balls to spare for their second successive victory in the CSA T20 Challenge at St George’s Park.

Opening batsman Richard Levi led the charge with a powerful, sensational knock of 40 off just 17 balls, including five fours and three sixes.

With fellow opener Jonathan Bird making 39 off 26 deliveries, Western Province raced to 69/1 in the powerplay.

Bird fell in the 10^th over with 66 runs still required, but well-organised batting by the experienced duo of Dane Vilas (33* off 27) and George Linde (34* off 24) ensured the visitors kept the whip hand over the Warriors.

Mthiwekhaya Nabe (3-0-18-2) was the best EP bowler and spinner Jon-Jon Smuts was economical, but the rest of the attack was plundered.

Eastern Province, after electing to bat first, had posted a commanding 163/5 thanks to opener Wihan Lubbe batting through and controlling the innings with his 69 not out off 59 balls.

There were other little cameos around him, but the most profitable partnership was the 56 off 40 deliveries he put on with Lesiba Ngoepe (36 off 20) for the third wicket.

Left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell was the pick of the WP bowlers with 1/25 in his four overs.

The Northerns Titans lost on the opening day to the Warriors, and the composure they showed in beating the Boland Rocks by three runs in a thrilling game will please coach Mandla Mashimbyi.

Boland looked well on their way to their target of 159 when they needed 19 runs off two overs with the sixth-wicket pair of Michael Copeland and Ferisco Adams going well.

But fast bowler Junior Dala (3/36) ended the penultimate over in outstanding fashion, removing both set batsmen, and Aya Gqamane then conceded just eight runs in the final over when 12 were needed for Boland to win.

SA U19 player Copeland, making his senior T20 debut after returning from the West Indies on Monday, did extremely well to score 39 off 33 balls.

Janneman Malan had given the Boland chase a blazing start with 45 off 31 balls, but Northerns spinners Aaron Phangiso (4-0-20-2) and Tabraiz Shamsi (4-0-24-1) then turned the screw.

Having been sent in to bat, Titans openers Gihahn Cloete (53 off 41) and Quinton de Kock (72 off 61) batted brilliantly and were in full control as they added 106 in 13.5 overs.

The Boland bowlers, led by Adams, who conceded just 26 runs in his four overs, fought back well though, and despite Donovan Ferreira’s 27 not out off 17 deliveries, Northerns would have felt they could have posted more than 158/2.

The Free State Cheetahs showed that they might well be the team to chase in the Currie Cup as they downed the previously-unbeaten, two-time defending champions, the Bulls, 38-25 in an all-action display at Loftus Versfeld on Wednesday night.

It was clear from the outset, when the Cheetahs kept the ball alive with offloads and passing through multiple phases, that the visitors were after tries and they scored six of them. Two of them were via hooker Louis van der Westhuizen at the maul, but the rest were slickly worked and the reward for ball-in-hand rugby.

Flank Andisa Ntsila’s grubber through for wing Rosko Specman to score was an early highlight.

A helter skelter first 20 minutes saw the Bulls match the Free Staters on the scoreboard, even if they only scored two tries to the three of the Cheetahs. Nineteen-year-old debutant loose forward Cameron Hanekom was rewarded for following up a botched restart by the visitors for the opening try, and a good long pass out wide by flyhalf Chris Smith led to the second try by wing Stravino Jacobs.

Fullback Clayton Blommetjies cutting through for a try after a lovely angled run by flyhalf Siya Masuku was not enough to prevent Free State actually trailing by one point (19-20) at halftime.

But the Bulls were left chasing the game in the second half as very little went right for them.

They had practically zero lineout platform and a physical, streetwise Cheetahs pack meant the Bulls’ rolling maul had no traction.

Referee Paul Mente was also ruthless in targeting their ill-discipline and both lock Reinhardt Ludwig and prop Lizo Gqoboka were yellow-carded in the final quarter.

The problems started in the 47^th minute when wing Siyabonga Novuka was a fraction-of-a-second early in tackling Specman in the air. The Cheetahs set the maul, went wide right and then, when they came back left, there were no defenders left and lock Aidon Davis strolled over for the try.

The visitors built on their lead 12 minutes later when Van der Westhuizen rumbled over for his second try and Masuku then put in a lovely crosskick for Ntsila to score to put Free State 38-20 up and out of sight.

Scorers

Bulls: Tries – Cameron Hanekom, Stravino Jacobs, Siyabonga Novuka. Conversions – Chris Smith (2). Penalty – Smith. Drop goal – Smith.

Free State Cheetahs: Tries – Rosko Specman, Louis van der Westhuizen (2), Clayton Blommetjies, Aidon Davis, Andisa Ntsila. Conversions – Ruan Pienaar (4).

Tabraiz Shamsi said he is feeling much better as South Africa enjoyed a rest day on Thursday after their impressive chase to beat Pakistan in their last warm-up match for the T20 World Cup, allowing them to go into their opening game against Australia on Saturday in confident mood.

While Rassie van der Dussen’s brilliant unbeaten 101 off 51 balls led a morale-boosting batting display on Wednesday night, the bowling attack struggled after Shamsi pulled out of the game after bowling just four balls, struggling with what was revealed to be a “tight groin” by Proteas management.

The world’s No.1 T20 bowler did not return to the field, raising alarm bells for Saturday’s World Cup opener, but the word from the camp on Thursday was that the ace spinner was making good progress.

One of the few bowlers to do well against Pakistan was Lungi Ngidi, who last played a competitive match for the Proteas in July in Ireland. But upon his return to the team he says he can feel the mood in the camp is just getting better and better.

The 25-year-old paceman missed the tour to Sri Lanka and has been involved in the IPL since then.

“The team has been successful since the West Indies tour and there’s been a momentum shift in a positive direction. And you can tell it’s still moving in the right direction.

“It’s great to be back with the guys, the language is all positive and there’s a good mindset. We think that we’ve ticked all the boxes we need to heading into the World Cup,” Ngidi said on Thursday.

Van der Dussen’s perfectly-paced innings was further proof that hope never dies for the 32-year-old as he and David Miller scored 22 runs off the last over to win off the final ball.

“We were chasing quite a big score [187], but we knew the pitch was good and we just had to give ourselves a chance,” Van der Dussen said. “We were a bit behind in the powerplay, but we knew we had boundary options at the end.

“We also knew it would be important to have an in-batsman in the last five overs to put them under pressure. The guys played around me very well, we managed the chase well.

“I just tried to stay in fifth gear, the score dictated we had to. We maybe left ourselves with a bit too much to get in the last three overs, 47 runs, but fortunately we managed to get some boundaries.

“I just tried to play the situation of the game as the run-rate dictates, and just stay calm even if it gets to 15 an over, that’s the learning,” Van der Dussen said.

For Springbok captain Siya Kolisi, Test rugby is like a drug that he cannot get enough of, while for backline coach Mzwandile Stick, the forthcoming series against the British and Irish Lions is the chance to chase memories for the players.

Kolisi’s gratification will finally come on Friday evening when he leads the Springboks out against Georgia in their warm-up Test at Loftus Versfeld, ending a 20-month wait since he last donned the Green and Gold and lifted the greatest prize of them all – the World Cup trophy.

“Once you’ve tasted it you don’t want to stop. It’s the best in South Africa against the best from elsewhere in the world. Just the intensity in training as well, it’s double what you experience back at your union and you just know that you cannot switch off or get a big head otherwise you will get left behind. You learn a lot about yourself in this environment,” Kolisi said on the eve of his return to the international stage.

The excitement ahead of taking on Georgia, ranked No.12 in the world, is going to at least double when the Springboks approach the main course: three Tests against the British and Irish Lions that only come along every 12 years.

Stick, a former Springbok Sevens captain who won the World Series, knows what it feels like just to play against the Lions in a tour game, having appeared for the Southern Kings against the famous tourists in Port Elizabeth in 2009.

“It’s a chance to build new memories. The Lions are a massive challenge and we are really excited. The players have one opportunity to create something special. I played against the Lions in 2009 and it was a challenge every second. I came on at blindside wing and I just wanted to get in the game so badly that I tried to stand in the defensive line at flyhalf.

“But Ronan O’Gara was so smart and he just kicked the ball over my head. I was stupid and the players mustn’t be like me. They have to play together as a team. Like against Georgia who we respect as a tough side – we will be punished if we don’t pitch up,” Stick said.

The two teams also always have a chat with the referee before a Test match and in this case Stick was reunited with an old opponent from his Sevens days in Scotland’s Mike Adamson.

Adamson will be blowing just his second Test match after officiating in the England versus Italy Six Nations match earlier this year. He has also taken the whistle in Currie Cup games before.

A flyhalf in XVs, he was a top-class Sevens exponent who was Scotland’s Sevens Player of the Season in 2006/7.