Ken Borland

St George’s Park was the principality of South Africa’s Prince of Leg-Spin, Shaun von Berg, on Tuesday as he consigned the Central Gauteng Lions to defeat against the Boland Rocks in their CSA T20 Challenge match.

Von Berg took a devastating 3/14 in his four overs as the Lions, chasing 161 to win, were bowled out for 116 in just 17.2 overs.

Although Joshua Richards was trapped lbw to the first ball of the innings from left-arm spinner Siyabonga Mahima, the Lions were well-placed on 46/1 after six overs as Reeza Hendricks and Shane Dadswell added 46 off 38 balls.

But Dadswell (29) was bowled by Von Berg’s first ball, mowing across the line, and the seasoned spinner had Mitchell van Buuren caught behind next delivery with a classic leg-break.

Once Mahima (4-0-20-2) removed Reeza Hendricks for a determined 46 off 39 balls, the Lions were 94/6 and Hardus Viljoen and Ferisco Adams, who both also took two wickets in two balls, ran through the rest of the batting line-up.

Captain Pieter Malan was largely responsible for leading Boland to 160/4 after they had been sent in to bat, compiling a steely 71 off 48 deliveries.

Adams (30* off 23) and Christiaan Jonker (20 off 15) provided a good finish to the innings as Boland had enough on the board to be rewarded with an invaluable bonus point.

In the afternoon game, the rampant Western Province side roared to an 84-run win over the North-West Dragons, their fourth consecutive triumph also earning them a bonus point.

Chasing 165, Beuran Hendricks ran through the North-West top-order with superb figures of 4-20, the joint best in the competition so far.

With leg-spinner Junaid Dawood claiming 3/22 in his four overs, North-West were shot out for just 80.

Captain Wayne Parnell took 1/13 in three overs with the ball and two fine catches, one of them a full-length diving effort to remove the dangerous Delano Potgieter off Hendricks.

The left-hander had earlier struck a ferocious 33 not out off just 17 balls to lift Western Province to 164/8, after an incredible collapse in which they lost six wickets for 25 runs left them on 134/8 with just two overs remaining.

The collapse was largely caused by brilliant left-arm spin from Senuran Muthusamy, who also took 4/20, and came after a solid platform had been laid by Jonathan Bird (53 off 44) and Dane Vilas (31 off 20).

Leg-spinner Shaun von Berg ensured that his name will be mentioned more often in future national selection meetings as his three-wicket burst put the Unlimited Titans in control of their Sunfoil Series match against the Knights at SuperSport Park in Centurion yesterday.

After David Wiese (45) and JP de Villiers (59) stretched the Titans first innings to 366, Von Berg claimed three for 10 in his first eight overs as the Knights limped to 212 for eight at stumps, which came with 18 overs left to be bowled due to bad light.

The Titans resumed yesterday morning on 268 for seven, and Wiese and De Villiers ensured they converted a good first day into a meaningful total with an eighth-wicket stand of 81 lasting exactly 100 minutes.

The home side batted through to the brink of lunch, leaving the Knights with three overs to survive before the break, which they did in reaching 11 without loss.

But with Reeza Hendricks (3) lasting just two balls in the second session before edging an away-swinger from Wiese into the slips, the Knights were under pressure from the start of the afternoon session.

Wiese again found swing to bowl Gihahn Cloete through the gate for 12 and Rilee Rossouw (23), having taken four successive fours off Marchant de Lange’s previous over, then edged the fast bowler low to Roelof van der Merwe at third slip in a thrilling passage of play.

Von Berg then took centre-stage in another proof that the hours of work he has put in in the nets are paying off as he ripped through the middle-order.

He landed his first delivery perfectly and it went straight on to trap Obus Pienaar lbw for 14 and he then outfoxed Rudi Second, inducing a return catch, to remove a batsman who had looked capable of causing a few hours of trouble for the Titans as he breezed to 38.

Von Berg’s fortunes changed, however, in the last one-and-a-half hours of play as Werner Coetsee took control.

The 27-year-old returned to the attack straight after tea, changing to the West Lane End, and an inspired piece of bowling saw him rip a delivery across Gerhardt Abrahams (26) and into his off stump in his first over back.

That gave Von Berg figures of 8-3-10-3, but Coetsee ensured 45 runs would come from his last five overs yesterday as he raced to 57 not out off 61 balls.

But the 31-year-old Coetsee was fighting a largely lone battle, with De Villiers removing both Johan van der Wath (10) and Quinton Friend (2) in the 45^th over, in an excellent second spell.