Cape Town — Eddie Moore endeared himself to Newlands faithful on Sunday afternoon with a battling 94 to take Western Province over the line by four wickets in their Cricket SA One-Day Cup encounter with the Dolphins.
Moore was playing in his first List A game for his new province since moving from the Warriors during the off-season. The 29-year-old not only anchored the pursuit of 227 for victory, but also showed great courage to bat on after being struck on the ankle by a wayward Dolphins shy at the stumps.
It was clear that Moore was in severe pain, particularly as he hobbled through for every single on one leg for the last five overs.
And even though he was caught on the long-on boundary with Province still needing four runs to win, the gritty left-hander had done his job.
The fact that Province required such heroism from Moore left a lot to be desired though in a match they had dominated for virtually 75% of the contest.
The home team initially reduced the Dolphins to 24/5 in the 14th over before Bradley Porteous struck a brilliant 100 to lift the visitors to 226/9.
And then Province were seemingly cruising at 147/2 in the pursuit of victory before a middle-order collapse left Moore and Mihlali Mpongwana needing to put on a 55-run partnership for the sixth wicket to keep the home team on track.
Mpongwana also deserves plenty of credit with the 22-year-old holding his nerve in a tense situation.
The Dolphins deserve credit for trying to stay in the contest when they seemed floored on so many occasions.
WP’s new-ball attack were once again superb with Nandre Burger and Beuran Hendricks setting the tone upfront.
Burger (3/41) struck in his first two overs and Hendricks chipped in with a scalp of his own before Mpongwana also helped himself to a couple of wickets.
Despite collecting the points at Newlands on Sunday, Province will know they can only improve as the competition progresses, and will welcome the return of captain Wayne Parnell for the next match against the struggling Knights in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.
IOL Sport