Seven up as Gauteng scamper through

It was shades of the World Cup semifinal between South Africa and Australia as Gauteng, on a difficult Wanderers pitch, did just enough on Sunday to pip Griquas and extend their unbeaten run in the Standard Bank Cup competition to seven matches.

Visiting captain Martyn Gidley won the toss and decided to bat on a field being used for the first time since being laid seven months ago. Even though Griquas only managed to score 146/9 in their 50 overs, that score was always going to be competitive and Gauteng took full advantage of a few dropped catches to sneak home via a leg bye, with a ball to spare.

The pitch was a bit slow and anything full and straight was difficult to get away. Gauteng, generally, bowled well and fielded superbly to peg back Griquas after opening pair Mickey Arthur and Willie Dry had put on 44 for the opening wicket.

Off-spinner Derek Crookes did the early damage for Gauteng with a 12-ball spell which yielded three wickets for no runs. He bowled unchanged from the golf course end, taking 3/25 to earn the man-of-the-match award.

Apart from Andrew Hall, who offered too much width to the batsmen, the Gautengers all bowled well, with left-arm spinner Neil Fusedale doing a brilliant job for his side with 2/15 in eight overs and Zander de Bruyn capturing 2/27 in his nine overs.

For Griquas, only Dry (39), and wicketkeeper Wendell Bossenger, 22 not out, really adapted to the difficult batting conditions.

For once this season, Hall failed with the bat but fellow opener Bacher (39) showed admirable composure until pushing Andre Botha's first ball of the match gently to Ottis Gibson at mid-off.

Nic Pothas and De Bruyn looked in control of the situation, but when Pothas dragged a ball from Gibson on to his stumps Gauteng were suddenly in a spot of bother.

De Bruyn added 18 valuable runs with Geoff Toyana for the sixth wicket, but when the Soweto Cricket Club batsman holed out to Gibson (who took three catches in the innings and took 3/29 in his 10 overs), 11 runs were still wanted off 15 balls. Dean Laing fell in the same over, from Gidley, and when Solly Ndima went for a duck Gauteng suddenly needed nine runs off as many deliveries.

Gauteng wanted seven off the last over and No 10 Neil Fusedale relieved the pressure a bit by driving Gidley through the covers for four. With one run wanted off two balls and all the Griquas fielders in the ring, Gauteng scampered through for a leg bye that earned them four points and took them into second spot on the log (behind Easterns on net run rate).

- Border retained their hoodoo-like grip over KwaZulu Natal at Kingsmead when they powered their way to a 17-run victory in Durban on Sunday.

After setting Natal a target of 222 off 45 overs the Border bowlers reduced the home side to 80/5 to set up the ultimate triumph.

- North West's hopes of reeling in Free State's 194/9 wickets in their Standard Bank Cup clash went down the drain in Bloemfontein yesterday when bad light and rain brought a halt to proccedings, reports Sapa.

At that stage the visitors had scored 26 without loss.