A century stand between Stiaan van Zyl  and Jean Marais gave Boland an eight-wicket win over Border and a head start to make the semifinals of the Africa T20 Cup at Senwes Park.

As things stand at the close of day two with all sides having played two of their three matches, KZN Inland top the log on nine points, followed by Boland with five, Border on four  and North West 0.

In the final match of the day on Saturday, Border were looking good at 111-1, but then five wickets fell for 21 runs, with Neil Botha’s off-spin accounting for three of those wickets.

Boland’s openers then put on 104 in 11 overs, which effectively ended the match. Marais scored 50 off 41 balls, while Van Zyl went on to 54 off 35, of which only 24 runs came from boundaries.

It was an impressive performance, given that Boland had been well beaten by KZN Inland in the first game of the day. Border drew the short straw, playing two matches back to back.

They had done well in their first game, beating North-West by three wickets.

Jerry Nqolo’s medium pace broke the back of North-West batting order, taking 4-21. He was given a good start by Loyison Madashe, who took two wicket in the third over of the match, putting North-West under enormous pressure.

That restricted North-West to just 104. They may have hopes of an upset turn around when Border were 31-4, but then Daryll Brown opened up to score an unbeaten 63 off 50 balls (3×4, 4×6) which was enough.

Earlier, Kawzulu-Natal Inland made it two in a row in the Africa Cup T20 series with a nine-run over Boland.

They needed a some tight, fine bowling at the death to strangle the Bolanders, who were well up with the run-rate going into the last six overs.

Paceman Craig Alexander (1-14) and left-arm spinner Kyle Nipper (2-25) were the heroes for KZN Inland, taking wickets in successive overs and pushing up the required rate jumped into double figures until eventually Boland needed 20 off the last two overs

Chasing 154, which was based on Sarel Erwee’s unbeaten 75 off 59 balls, Boland were given a great start with an opening stand of 68 between Jean marais (40 off 39) and Stiaan van Zyl (38 off 38)

The turning point was Alexander’s dismissal of Van Zyl, caught off bat and then pad where it held up long enough for the bowler to claim the catch.

 On Sunday, Border play KZN Inland and Boland play North-West