Boland produced a solid all-round performance to beat KwaZulu-Natal by four wickets in the Africa T20 Cup in Paarl.
In contrast to the first game of the day, in which 395 runs were scored between Gauteng and Eastern Province, this was a low-scoring affair after Boland restricted the South Coast side to 143-6.
It was a close-run thing in which Boland smashed 32 off the last two overs, to win with two balls to spare. Ferisco Adams and Niel Botha were the heroes as they took 20 runs off the 19th over.
But it took some astute captaincy by Keegan Petersen to engineer this win, as he changed his bowlers rapidly against KwaZulu-Natal. Seven were called into action, with five claiming wickets.
He must have known something because he put KwaZulu-Natal in to bat and he had them on shaky ground at 36-2 after the powerplay.
The experienced Cameron Delport and Sibonelo Makhanya dug in to put on 50 runs for the third wicket, but once Delport was dismissed for 45 off 29 balls (3×4, 1×6) in the 11th over, with the score on 75, KwaZulu Natal were on the slide.
Makhanya fought well, to end on 40 off 35, but there was little support: Robbie Frylinck (15) and Rabian Engelbrech (17) were the only other players to reach double figures.
The target of 144 was never going to be enough after the hosts, on their home ground, ran up 40-1 in the powerplay.
The Border-born left-hander Cebo Tshiki took command, outstripping Proteas player Stiaan van Zyl, who contributed 20 to the second-wicket stand of 52 in 6.4 overs.
Tshiki went on to 42 off 35, and although there as a little wobble in the middle order, Adams put in some hard work to run up 30 off 15 balls,with just two fours and a six, while Botha scored 20 off seven balls, with two fours and a six.
The two winners meet in the late game (4.30) on Saturday on day two, while Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal kick off at 1pm
