East London – In one of the most exciting finishes seen at Buffalo Park, the Warriors Friday narrowly beat the Lions by four runs in a Ram Slam T20 Challenge match which had a large crowd on the edge of their seats throughout the last few overs.
Wayne Parnell of the Warriors kept his nerve and restricted the Lions to only six runs off the final over when the visitors needed 11 off the last six balls.
Neil McKenzie and Chris Morris had taken the Lions to the brink of victory with a partnership of 37 at that point and Parnell, who had been slammed for four fours by Mckenzie in his previous over, went from zero to hero in a few minutes.
The Warriors won the toss and it was veteran Ashwell Prince and young apprentice Christiaan Jonker who took the Warriors to 82 in double-quick time, with both batsmen on the attack throughout.
Jonker slammed a six that disappeared over the chalets and out of the ground off Aaron Phangiso and hit another for good measure in a mature innings of 42 which gave the Warriors a good foundation.
After the openers were dismissed, some fine spin bowling by Imran Tahir and some excellent pace bowling by Sohail Tanvir ensured that wickets fell at regular intervals, with Warriors captain Davy Jacobs dismissed by a beautiful googly from the spinner for a duck. Only Colin Ingram with 21 managed to get among the runs in the latter part of the Warriors innings.
The Lions started solidly, with young Quinton de Kock getting a 20 off 22 balls, but the loss of Gulam Bodi and skipper Alviro Petersen and then De Kock, rocked the Lions back at 47 for three wickets after eight overs.
Enter veteran McKenzie. After the loss of Jean Symes, McKenzie and Tanvir were able to add a quick 21 and when Morris joined McKenzie at 95 for six, 48 were needed off 27 balls.
In the 18th over McKenzie cut loose and hit Parnell for those four fours and when the last over began, the Lions needed 11. Jacobs tossed the ball to Parnell and the allrounder managed to restrict the two batsmen to only six runs, earning four valuable points for his team.
McKenzie finished on 55 not out off 41 balls with seven fours. – Sapa