The Eastern Cape Iinyathi significantly enhanced their qualifier chances after engineering a bonus-point four-wicket victory over the Limpopo Impalas in their CSA Division 2 One-Day fixture at Buffalo Park in KuGompo City on Thursday.
It was their fourth win in a row, and the five points they collected moved the Iinyathi to second place on 18 points behind the Knights, who have 24 and will finish first with one round to go.
The Eastern Cape side’s last round-robin game against the Northern Cape Heat in Kimberley on Sunday will be key in getting them a return to home ground advantage at Buffalo Park for the qualifier contested between numbers two and three in the standings.
The winner of the qualifier will go to Bloemfontein to face the Knights in the final on March 22.
To acquire the bonus point, Iinyathi were required to get 219 in 40 overs against the Impalas, and they got there with a ball to spare.
Thando Ntini and Alindile Mhletywa got the team over the line at the end.
Ntini hit a four when Iinyathi required five runs off three balls, and they got the last run via a leg-bye.
Playing in his 50th List A game, top-order batsman Jason Niemand played a huge role in the chase with his 53.
Wian Ruthven also got 53, while Michael Copeland (39) and Nathan Roux (35) were the other major contributors in the successful chase.
Sizwe Masondo ensured the Impalas were not reduced to a lower score than the 218 they posted.
The wicketkeeper-batter held the innings together while he lost partners at the other end in crucial intervals of the game.
He was there at the end with an unbeaten 79 runs off 104 balls, which included seven fours.
Inyathi were left kicking themselves when they dropped Masondo just before he reached 50.
But they would have been happy with how they bounced back from a rather disappointing powerplay.
The Impalas’ plan to counter the Iinyathi’s suffocation of teams in the first 10 overs, especially at home, was bang on after they elected to bat first.
The Buffalo Park track looked good up front.
Even the good-length balls by the tournament’s leading wicket taker, Nico van Zyl, and his partner Chad Classen were punished by the Impalas’ openers, Tiaan Brits and Tylor Trenoweth.
The pair were going at just over six and helped the visitors pass the 50-run mark.
It was at the end of the powerplay that the Iinyathi pace attack found its rhythm.
The number 63 proved unlucky as the Impalas lost both Brits and Trenoweth.
Trenoweth had his middle stump knocked out of the ground by Classen for 36, while Ntini had Brits caught at backward point by Kgaudi Molefe for 23.
The two breakthroughs shifted the momentum to the home side.
The new batters, Impalas captain Ludwig Kaestner and Emmanuel Motswiri, found it hard to keep up with the run rate.
They managed to assemble just 24 runs before the tournament’s leading run scorer, Kaestner, was run out by Sizani for just 11, leaving the away team on 87 for three after 20 overs.
Motswiri and Masondo were the “Bob the Builders” for the Impalas as they reconstructed the innings with a 43-run stand, but Iinyathi managed again to demolish it.
Left-arm spinner Molefe, who was struggling with an injury to his bowling hand, pulled off a stunning caught-and-bowled to remove Motswiri for 35.
It was all Iinyathi in the last 15 overs as they ripped through the Impalas’ middle and lower orders.
Classen accounted for the wicket of Hlompho Modimokoane for a duck.
Van Zyl struck twice, removing Don Radebe (2) and Atwell Mokgoloboto (6).
Offspinner Sizani had CP Klijnhans caught at long off by Classen for seven, while Keenan Vieira (6) was run out by Christiaan du Toit.