EAST LONDON (South Africa) - For those old enough to remember the stories of Zane Grey, a writer of a particular Western genre earlier this century, the term Boot Hill, which described a graveyard, should be familiar enough. It was usually a stretch of land overlooking a town and where tombstones were plentiful.

Although the term no longer exists in the modern Oxford English Dictionary, by coincidence they have a graveyard perched on the hill behind the pavilion and overlooking Buffalo Park in this sleepy neck of the woods.

Only this time the locals, Border, escaped the hanging tree when they squeezed, wheezed and scraped together a one wicket victory over Free State in a Standard Bank semi-final last night which was anything but a showpiece event.

It must have the sponsors wondering if the United Cricket Board have got it all wrong.

We are all back in five days time for the final, and if what we had placed before us as an appetiser last night is an example, all the comment of what a great ground Buffalo Park has become smacks of the sort of ludicrous parochial hot air you can expect of a town caught in a timewarp and where spectators were noticeable by their absenteeism. In fact the big hole town of Kimberley has more going for it than this seaside holiday resort which is still trying to hitch a lift into 1999.

Whether by design (we were told it had rained a lot during the week) or through lack of ability, the pitch for what should have been a gala event was poor in quality and remarkable for allowing the fielding side's captain to tug the strings and manipulate the conditions to suit their bowling attacks; first Border then Free State. There were the sort of cracks which made batting a nightmare and the bowler's direction in need of a lot more than an accurate radar system.

Generally it was poor standard fare on offer and the locals could not be blamed if they summoned the sheriff. demanded their money back, and suggest the square be consigned to the local 'Boot Hill' for trying to defeat the ends of providing a good game. It was also not without its early drama in which umpire Barry Lambson got it wrong. But the facts surrounding the dismissal of Kosie Venter in about the fifth over of the match (after Gerry Liebenberg won the toss and decided to bat) was as bizarre as you are going to get.

A delivery from Makhaya Ntini doubled Venter up but it also clipped the off stump: the bail was disturbed but on the replay, to the amazement of those taking a close look at the TV, it slipped into the groove. Lambson had heard a wood sound and assumed it clipped the inside edge of the bat. Border wicketkeeper Mitchell claimed the catch and Venter found himself on the wrong end of the law, trudging back to the pavilion wondering about justice and injustice.

It was dismissal which set the tone of the game as batsmen on both sides struggled. Boeta Dippenaar managed to scrape together 30 off 55 balls, we had Johan van der Wath scratching around for 28 and Jonathan Beukes also reaching the 20s. Tyron Henderson's three wickets for 14 runs, and Vasbert Drakes with two for 12 in nine was also a tribute to tight bowling as the noose was slipped ever tighter around the neck of the Free State innings.

But unlike the national all-sports newspaper Sportsday, tried to prove in a preview of the game assumption and presumption have the same meaning even if they do appear to be dressed up as differently. In fact, if you were to believe Sportsday's view of the game Free State had the better side and it wouldn't be a contest.

It was not all that easy for Border either. Their dreams of a second final this summer seemed decidedly uncertain at 37 for four after 17.1 overs and the skipper, Piet Strydom, no doubt wondering where the next partnership was forthcoming.

Sugden had made an error and departed and Border were tottering. Boundaries had been hard to squeeze out of the Border bowling when Free State were batting in their innings of 130 for nine (five in fact) while Border were slightly better off Strydom managed 45 off 81 balls and it was this innings which hauled Border into the game a third time. But the hangman's noose seemed to be looming again at 129 for nine when the last over began and Ntini and Love, two unlikely partners, settled down grimly to pick off the winning runs.

It was left of Dewald Pretorius, bowling the last over, who gave it away. Four dot balls had the small crowd groaning in despair before Ntini picked off last boundary to clinch the game and a date with Griqualand West in the final on Wednesday.

Hopefully the pitch will be better prepared than this one as the UCB policy to give the lesser sides a chance to qualify; for Griquas it was a miracle, for Border it was a touch of luck. Whatever way you look at it the pitch needs a lot more work than we had for this match if it is to meet the requirements of a final. If not the sponsors may wonder what they are going to get out of it ... Certainly not the image they would like to present in what is the last game of the domestic summer.

Border escaped Boot Hill this time; it will be interesting to see how the honest toilers from Kimberley fare.