Northerns emerge as the top side of the 2016 Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Week, beating Free State by eight wickets via the Duckworth-Lewis method in the final on Tuesday.

The rain-affected final had the Pretoria side’s 100-run target revised to 97 in 46 overs after winning the toss and putting the home side in to bat first in Bloemfontein.

Ruan de Swardt (3-15) and Beyers Swanepoel (3-16) were the pick of the bowlers, taking six wickets between them, Donovan Ferreira added 2-11 to bundle Free State out for 100. Only Raynard van Tonder (28) managed to cross the 20-run mark.

The Northerns’ response was rattled slightly by the loss of opener Nhlanhla Mofokeng for four, but his partner, Tshepo Motaung (48 not out) and Joshua van Heerden (26) shared a match-winning 72-run partnership for the second wicket. Ivan Kriek added five unbeaten runs to hold the fort as Motaung hit the winning boundary for victory. They won with 145 balls to spare.

At Central University of Technology, Jarryd Lookwhy and Matthew Breetzke scored 134 and 101 to set up a 70-run victory via D/L for Eastern Province (EP) over Easterns.

EP set the opposition a 337-run target, with a respective 31 and 29 runs chipped in by Adrian Leibrandt and Jonathan Crankshaw. Nyiko Baloyi led the Easterns attack, taking 3-87 with Brandon Harwood and Katleho Bala taking two wickets each.

They could not match up to a rampant bowling attack led by Lutho Sipamla (4-49). Justin Derick, Jarred Alder and Harwood top scored with 61, 41 and 40 respectively, but it was nowhere near the revised target of 316.

In other matches affected by the rain, Border ended the tournament on a high, beating Western Province by 27 runs, Namibia suffered a 94-run defeat to Kwa-Zulu Natal Inland thanks to an unbeaten 138 from Jiveshan Pillay and 50s by Matthew Dicks (59) and Sean Gilson (52).

At Grey College Casa 1 Ground, North West clinched a 13-run, D/L win over KZN, Mpumalanga fell to Northern Cape by 83 runs (via D/L method) and Limpopo came out on top in their fixture against South Western Districts, sneaking a two-run win.

Finally, Boland’s match against Gauteng at St Andrews School was rained out. Boland batted first, posting 272-9. Their innings led well by Paul Barnard and Bernu Engelbrecht who scored 109 off 124 balls and 56 from 63 deliveries respectively.

Gauteng captain Wiaan Mulder got the most breakthroughs, returning impressive figures of 4-31, with Codi Yusuf and Mitchell van Buuren taking 2-58 and 2- 62 respectively while the rest of the bowlers struggled to strike.

Gauteng’s batsmen only faced one delivery before the rain fell, putting an end to what was shaping up to be a good contest.

Summarised Scorecards (Limited Overs):

Free State 100 (Raynard van Tonder 28; Ruan de Swardt 3-15, Beyers Swanepoel 3-16, Donovan Ferreira 2-11); Northerns 100-2 (Tshepo Motaung 48 not out). Northerns won by eight wickets (D/L method).

Boland 272-9 (Paul Barnard 109, Bernu Engelbrecht 56; Wiaan Mulder 4-31); Gauteng 0-0. No result.

Eastern Province 336-9 (Jarryd Lookwhy 134, Matthew Breetzke 101; Nyiko Baloyi 3-87); Easterns 245-8 (Justin Brink 61, Jarred Alder 41, Brandon Harwood 40; Lutho Sipamla 4-49). Eastern Province won by 70 runs (D/L method).

KwaZulu-Natal Inland 293-3 (Jiveshan Pillay 138 not out, Matthew Dicks 59, Sean Gilson 52); Namibia 188 (Eben van Wyk 53; Jayden Gengan 3-29, Faiz Shafiq 2-11). KwaZulu-Natal Inland won by 94 runs (D/L method).

North West 230-9 (Irwin Modimokoane 53, Jan-Harm Moolman 35; Khwezi Gumede 3-26); KwaZulu-Natal 183 (Andile Mokgakane 64, Zakariya Paruk 31; Ruan Minnaar 3-27, Jan-Harm Moolman 2-21). North West won by 13 runs (D/L method).

Border 226 (Nathan Roux 73, Jason Raubenheimer 50, Jason Niemand 42; Michael Cohen 4-35); Western Province 183 (Grant Martin 51, Jesse Christensen 37; Siphamandla Krweqe 5-40, Akhona Mnyaka 4-28). Border won by 27 runs (D/L method).

Northern Cape 241-5 (Simon Muller 57, Nakkie Duvenhage 38); Mpumalanga 133 (Conner Fletcher 47; Chadwin November 4-33, Mason Zacharia 3-26). Northern Cape won by 83 runs (D/L method).

Limpopo 224 (Morné Venter 50, Sias Willemse 34 not out; Grant Esau 4-39); South Western Districts 198-7 (Jean du Plessis 66, Levin Muller 39; Ruvan Kruger 3-34). South Western Districts won by two runs (D/L method).

Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images