da leao： A stunning collapse by Free State saw them bowled out for just 154, handingBorder victory by 55 runs at Buffalo Park and giving them a bonus point forthe comprehensive nature of their victory
MWP03-Jan-2001A stunning collapse by Free State saw them bowled out for just 154, handingBorder victory by 55 runs at Buffalo Park and giving them a bonus point forthe comprehensive nature of their victory. At the same time, the defeat leftFree State struggling to make the semi-finals.An opening stand of 51 between Kosie Venter and Andrew Gait had made it seemas though the victory target of 210 in 45 overs would be a walk in the park,but once Venter played on to Tyron Henderson, the slide was on, with Bordercaptain Pieter Strydom, who had endured some difficult moments off the fieldin 2000, playing the major role in knocking over the visitors with a returnof three for 30, which earned him the man of the match award.The left-arm spinner finished the match when he had his Free Statecounterpart, Gerard Brophy, stumped by wicketkeeper Ian Mitchell for 37, thetop score in his team’s disappointing run-chase. Strydom had earlier alsoaccounted for Gait, who made 34, and Boeta Dippenaar, released from thenational team for the second Test against Sri Lanka, but able to notch upjust nine in this encounter.From 91 for two, Free State lost their next six wickets for just 32 runs,ending their quest for what would have been a vital victory, and it was leftto Brophy to play a futile lone hand at the end, before the visitors werebowled out in just 39 overs.Earlier, the news had been better for them, with both opener Victor Mpitsangand second-change bowler Johan van der Wath performing admirably with theball as Border were restricted to 209 for seven. Mpitsang, who has alreadyplayed for the national team in this form of the game, took two of the firstthree wickets to fall, including that of Strydom for 25, on the way to areturn of two for 24 from his nine overs.Van der Wath was more expensive, but the 45 runs he conceded werecounter-balanced by four wickets, giving him a career-best analysis in thecompetition exactly a week before his 23rd birthday.