Date-stamped : 24 Feb95 - 18:37
Castle Cup Series 1994/95: Northern Transvaal v Boland
Johannesburg, 17-21 Feb 1995

Report by Trevor Chesterfield.

Northern Transvaal snatched one of their most dramatic Castle Cup
victories  in several seasons when they beat Boland by one wicket
at Centurian Park.

Andre Seymour, batting under pressure, took them to the brink  of
success  with a match-winning innings of 84. He shared the man of
the match award with Rudi Bryson, whose 4 wicket for  23 in   the
Boland second innings helped rout the visitors for 85, the lowest
score in the competition this season.

At one stage, on the final day, the match  seemed  doomed  for  a
draw. With heavy grey clouds rolling over the ground, the batsmen
declining to take the light and bolts of lightning and claps   of
thunder  heralding  an  imminent  storm, Mark Davis cracked Roger
Telemachus through a packed cover field for his third four to win
the match. A bit of confusion between Davis and the last batsman,
Greg Smith, almost resulted in a run-out with the scores tied, as
Smith charged for what would have been a suicidal third run.

Joubert Strydom`s brave decision to declare Northerns` first  in-
nings  150  runs  behind  Boland  did  much  to set up a victory.
Northerns gave themselves a chance to  win  the  game when   they
bowled  Boland  out  for 85 as Bryson, Greg Smith and all rounder
Davis ran through the side in only 32.4 overs. While it was a su-
perb bowling and fielding performance, the Boland batsman largely
contributed to their own downfall.

Source: SAPA
<END> Contributed by Tony.Hassett (hasett@scinet.up.ac.za)