Cape Town, Jan 19 - Western Province had to work hard for a narrow five-run win over their less glamourous neighbours, Boland, and in the process keep alive their faint hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals of the Standard Bank Cup.

It couldn't have come much closer for Province, who bowled and fielded extremely well to defend a total which had always looked vulnerable. The sides were playing on the same strip on which South African rattled up nearly 300 just over a week ago, and the home side's failure evern to pass 200 looked to have signalled the end of their Cup hopes.

Defending champions Boland will rue a missed opportunity in the lion's den of Newlands, but their biggest disappointment will be the fact that the defence of their title ended with so much of the season still remaining. With the exception of Justin Ontong with 66, their batsmen struggled as Province's spin atack of Paul Adams and Claude Henderson took a grip on the match.

Even so, a belligerent career-best 27 from Neil Carter took Boland to within a couple of lusty blows of victory, but when he was brilliantly caught by vice-captain Alan Dawson at the second attempt, the equation had become too great an ask.

Earlier Province had made a miserable start as they looked to capitalise on winning the toss - always a helping hand in a day/night game at Newlands. Indeed if it were not for a fifth wicket partnership of 43 between Ashwell Prince and Lloyd Ferreira, the target could have been so much less for the visitors. Prince, who averages close to 70 in domestic limited overs cricket this year, earned the man-of-the-match award for his crucial 61.

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