The Border Bears earned themselves a place in the semi-finals of the Standard Bank Cup with a four-wicket win over hosts Boland on Wednesday night. Chasing a modest Boland total of 178 all out, Border hit the winning runs with a full over to spare.

Any lingering hopes at neighbouring Western Province that rivals Boland might do them a favour were dashed when Border reached 170, guaranteeing the all-important bonus point and further participation in South Africa's top domestic one-day competition. Province must now concentrate on their good start to the first-class season.

Border always looked like a more cohesive outfit, particularly as they included both Mark Boucher and Makhaya Ntini on their return from international duty.

Boucher in fact dispensed with the gloves and spent the Boland innings fielding at point - where he took two fine catches. Ntini again underlined just how far he has come in the past year with a fine, disciplined performace, returning figures of 2-25 from his nine overs.

At one stage it looked as though Boland might struggle to pass 150, but Louis Koen at the top of the order and the recalled Jonathan Trott in the middle both worked their way dilligently to half-centuries, and with the Boland Park pitch again playing slow, the home side might have fancied their chances.

They would have felt even more confident when the Border top-order crumbled spectacularly, Andrew Pringle picking up three wickets as they slumped to 37 for four and then 78 for five. That was the cue though for a sixth wicket partnership of 93 between man-of-the-match Pieter Strydom and Wayne Wiblin.

When Wiblin skied a catch to midwicket to depart for 46, the game was all but over as Border needed just eight more runs. Strydom completed the business with the minimum of fuss and finished unbeaten on 70.

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