A clinical Border side overpowered Easterns to win by seven wickets with 38 balls to spare.
Easterns took the initiative to bat first and put a total on the board, but ruthless bowling by Border reduced the batting side to three wickets down at the start of the fourth over, and with just 20 runs to show for their efforts.
Easterns skipper Grant Thomson and Sizwe Masondo added 80 for the fourth wicket in 10 overs, but both lost their wickets within eight balls of each other, after which the middle order and tail lost wickets in quick succession as the innings ended on 134-9 off 20 overs.
Basheeru-Deen Walters (2-15, econ 3.75) and Phaphama Fojela (3-18, econ 4.50) were devastating with the ball, backed up by Bongolwethu Makeleni (1-23, econ 5.75).
Marco Marais got the Border innings off to an explosive start, smashing 64 runs off just 25 balls, with two fours and seven mighty sixes. Marais scored at an incredible strike rate of 256 runs per 100 balls, sharing an opening stand of 102 in nine overs with Gihahn Cloete, who scored 40 off 30 balls.
Border cruised to victory in 13.4 overs, ending on 135-3 and no doubt feeling in fine shape for tomorrow’s final against Gauteng.
Armandt Erasmus picked up 2-26, while Dyllan Matthews was the only Easterns bowler to emerge unscathed, returning figures of 4-0-17-1 (econ 4.25).
Photo: Richard Huggard/Gallo Images
