Matthew Breetzke scored a half-century, and Siya Simetu delivered another excellent bowling performance to help the Dafabet Warriors secure their fifth consecutive win in the CSA T20 Challenge. They defeated World Sports Betting Western Province by eight wickets in Gqeberha on Thursday.
The Eastern Cape team has been setting an incredible pace in the 2023/24 campaign, and this victory extended their lead at the top to six points over DP World Lions.
Simetu, a slow left-armer, has been one of the standout players of the tournament so far. He has not only taken wickets but has also maintained an impressive economy rate. During the match at St. George's Park, he took 2/15 in 4 overs, which helped restrict the Western Cape visitors to 149/7 after winning the toss and electing to bat.
Despite falling into early trouble, Province's George Linde managed to top score. The home bowlers, especially Patrick Kruger (2/25), were responsible for the early trouble. Simetu is currently the leading wicket-taker in the competition with 11 wickets at an impressive economy rate of 4.84. He successfully restricted the opposition to a target of 150 during the latter part of the innings.
The batters took over, with Breetzke leading the way by sharing in two 50-plus partnerships.
First, he put on 65 for the second wicket with Andile Mogakane (48) before adding an unbroken 62 with Jordan Hermann (31*) as the Warriors won with 14 balls to spare.
In Thursday's other match, Rubin Hermann and Migael Pretorius led the way to give the Auto Investments North West Dragons their second victory of the season against the winless Gbets Rocks in Potchefstroom.
The hosts won by seven wickets, mainly due to Hermann's unbeaten 96 (56 balls, 9 fours, 5 sixes).
However, Migael Pretorius played a crucial role by taking 4/14 in four overs to restrict the Paarl visitors to 146/6 after losing the toss and being asked to bat first at JB Marks Oval.
Ferisco Adams top-scored with an unbeaten 50 (39 balls, 3 fours, 2 sixes). The home side easily chased down the target with 3.1 overs to spare, thanks to Hermann's performance.