East London – In a thrilling domestic T20 match, the Warriors and the Lions each grabbed three points as the game ended in a tie in East London on Sunday.
This was the second tie in a row for the Warriors, who forced a tie against the Dolphins in Port Elizabeth on Friday.
Set 157 to win, Pakistan’s Sohail Tanvir was run out off the last ball of the game.
Both Lions openers, Quinton de Kock and Gulam Bodi, came out firing after the Warriors scored 156/5 in their 20 overs, but some misdirected bowling from the Warriors pacemen, allowed the batsmen to race to 52 off only 32 balls.
The introduction of medium-pacer Lundi Mbane led to De Kock’s undoing at 61. The adventurous batsman, on 22, picked a ball of his legs, drove furiously, and Rusty Theron at mid-on grabbed the ball one-handed to take the catch.
One over later Alviro Petersen was also out to another good catch, substitute Aya Gqamane, on the field for the injured Ryan Bailey, throwing himself sideways to catch the ball at a deep point.
Gqamane took his second catch on the deep mid-wicket boundary when Neil Mckenzie was out for 16, hooking left-arm spinner Jon-Jon Smuts.
Pakistan allrounder Azhar Mahmood did not last long, caught cutting at Mbane, and again the sub took a comfortable catch.
With wickets tumbling, Bodi continued to hold the innings together, but was well caught by Smuts off Mbane for 78, made off 57 balls with nine fours and a six.
Some big hits by Tanvir towards the end allowed the Lions to inch closer to their target.
When the last over began, bowled by Theron, 10 runs were needed.
When the last ball arrived, with Viljoen facing, two runs were needed.
There was a scramble close to the stumps, the batsmen scampered through but a hard throw from wicketkeeper Davy Jacobs went through to the cover area, but a quick return by Wayne Parnell to the bowler had Tanvir, narrowly run out.
Earlier, the Warriors’ top scorer, opener Smuts, had a lucky escape when he was caught off a Sohail Tanvir no-ball at short fine leg when he was on two and the total 15/1.
The no-ball would come back to haunt the visitors as Smuts went on to score 73 off only 54 balls with six boundaries and a six.
Smuts and Colin Ingram, 38, added 95 for the second wicket, but that was the only substantial partnership of the innings. – Sapa