That’s it, game over! The Northern Cape Heat pulled off a fantastic win in Pietermaritzburg on Sunday morning when they beat the KZN-Inland Tuskers by 20 runs in a dramatic and massively impressive fightback.
The visitors had won the toss and chose to bat on Thursday and their openers Modiri Litheko and Ernest Kemm put on a decent 52-run opening partnership before Litheko was dismissed for 31 off 45 balls. Skipper Kemm went on to score a steady 40 runs. But it was Ruan Haasbroek’s 101 that helped the visitors to the fairly decent, but sadly inadequate total of 266.
The hosts’ 362 in reply meant that the heat had a massive deficit in the first innings. Tuskers No.1 batsman Kagiso Rapulana was merciless as he scored a belligerent 142. Fellow opener Ben Compton’s patient 85 meant that the KZN team managed a huge 194-run opening partnership.
The heat managed to fight back though with Tshepo Ntuli (6/105) the chief destroyer, ably supported by Kem (3/65).
In their second knock, the Heat batsmen got starts but never managed to kick on as only Cole Abrahams (33), Monde Maqunqu (25) and Tian Koekemoer (21) managed to get out of the ‘teens’ and the visitors stuttered to 162. Tuskers Sean Gilson’s 4/40 put the brakes on the visitors’ hopes of pulling away and skipper Michael Erlank chipped in with 2/23.
But then Ntuli (5/17) and Kemm (5/28) took the game into their hands (almost literally), blasting the hosts away in a fantastic tandem performance, skittling the hosts for a paltry 47 runs in just 15.1 overs, with only Sean Gilson (25) getting into double-figures, and securing that incredible 20 run win that seemed so unlikely just a few days ago.
Scorecard summary
NC Heat 266 and 162
KZN Tuskers 362 and 47
Result: Northern Cape Heat win by 20 runs