da pinnacle： PAARL, Jan 17 – The Northerns Titans eased their way into thesemi-finals of the Standard Bank Cup, dishing out a first home-defeat in ayear to Boland on Wednesday night
MWP17-Jan-2001PAARL, Jan 17 – The Northerns Titans eased their way into thesemi-finals of the Standard Bank Cup, dishing out a first home-defeat in ayear to Boland on Wednesday night. The Titans made light work of thedefending champions, cruising home by six wickets with four overs and oneball to spare.Boland’s total of 185 for six from their 45 overs was never enough,especially with Martin van Jaarsveld in such fine form for the visitors. VanJaarsveld was in commanding form, anchoring the Northerns’ reply with anauthoritative 76 off 89 balls, with six fours.He was well supported by young Kruger van Wyk, the 20 year-old widelytipped for future success standing firm while the more experienced vanJaarsveld did the business. There were useful contributions from bothJacques Rudolph and captain Gerald Dros, but the man-of-the-match awarddeservedly went to van Jaarsveld for his all-round excellence.He had already picked up a the wicket of Gerhard Strydom in the Bolandinnings, Strydom offering a chance back to bowler on 29. His innings wastypical of the Boland batting effort, as several top-order batsmen madestarts, but failed to capitalise. After winning the toss and deciding tobat, 185 always looked below par, even on Boland Park’s notoriously slow andlow wicket.And so it proved. Boland now face the improbable challenge of winningtheir next two matches – against Western Province and Border – if they areto join the Titans in the semi-finals and continue the defence of theirtitle.