Smith’s half-century propels Western Province to fourth spot in T20 challenge

Western Province played their hand with a six-wicket victory over the Knights as they temporarily move to fourth spot.

Province and the Knights knew as they went down the stairs of the iconic Newlands Cricket Ground that nothing but victory would do as they set themselves to tussle for the final top four spot.

Occupied by the Warriors prior to the match, Province came into the contest only one point behind the Eastern Cape-based side, and their choice to insert the Knights in to bat first handed them the early advantage of restricting the visitors and keeping the bonus point victory within their grasp.

Province managed to restrict the Knights to a total of 157-7 despite their ground fielding not complementing their bowling.

Jacques Snyman (25) has been explosive for the Bloemfontein-based side so far in the tournament, but on the night, it was the accuracy and quality of Beuran Hendricks with ball in hand that couldn’t be matched by the Knights as they crawled to 84/4 after 12 overs.

Top scorer Dian Forrester played an important knock of 39 off 26 balls before he was outfoxed by Hendricks. The Knights batters got the starts but struggled to convert them into big scores.

Lesego Senokwane (25) couldn’t kick on, while a useful 24-run stand between Aaron Phangiso (13) and Tiaan van Vuuren (15) ensured the visitors posted a competitive total.

In response, the opening pair of Daniel Smith (57 off 33) and Jonathan Bird (16) immediately found the middle as they took aim at the Knights bowlers and took a shot at the 158 run target in 16 overs to secure a bonus point victory.

Smith, elegant in his stroke play, took charge of the powerplay as Province were flying at 54/1 at the end of the six overs. The 22-year-old found the gaps at will and scored his second career half-century.

Cruising at 89/1, Province put themselves in a spot of bother as a flurry of wickets allowed the visitors to have a sniff back into the contest, reducing the home side to 93/3 with the set Smith run-out when he seemed to still have a lot more runs with him.

The experience of Eddie Moore (31) and Mihlali Mpongwana (22) ensured Province did their part with their 42-run stand as they moved up the order with the full set of fixtures scheduled to go off tomorrow.

Brief scores:

Knights 157/7 (Forrester 39, Hendricks 2/28, Simmons 1/34)

Western Province ( Smith 57, Fledermaus 2/32, Langa 1/25)