Allrounder Nonelela Yikha claimed the third-best ever bowling figures for a Border player at the Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Week when he captured six wickets for 22 against Limpopo at Brackenfell in Cape Town on Wednesday, helping his team to a positive five-wicket win in their 50-over encounter.
Yikha's effort now only sits behind Dean Forward's 7/28 against KwaZulu-Natal Inland in 2004 and Sithembile Langa's 6/17, also against Limpopo in 2014, while Yikha's figures were also the 11th-best overall at the Coke Week so far.
In the end it was a low- scoring encounter and the win will come as a massive relief for Border who have struggled this year.
They had lost three of their four games heading into the penultimate fixture, but another top performance from the bowlers, led by the superb Yikha and Luke Dallas, who snared 3/17, helped them bowl Limpopo out for a paltry 86.
Border’s creaky batting order then made things a bit more difficult than it should have been, but Emihle Mqogi stood tall to score an unbeaten 38 to lead Border home.
“We are really happy, the team needed this result and we are just playing for pride at the moment,” said Border coach Andre de Beer.
“Nonelela and Luke were absolutely brilliant, they bowled as one unit and their nine wickets combined were the reason we won the game so comfortably. We now just want to finish the week well with another win on the final day.”
Limpopo batted first and got off to a steady enough start as the opening batsmen shared a 26-run stand within the first seven overs.
Border opening bowler Luvo Ntsekwa then broke the stand, having Vernon Harms (8) caught by Stuart Els and the wicket saw the Limpopo batting rate slow down immediately as they crawled to 37/1 in the 12th over.
Dallas then joined the attack and trapped Glen Groenewald (7) in front to make the score 37/2. Nhlamulo Mboweni and Mixo Chauke then tried to batten down the hatches for Limpopo and revive the innings with a 17-run stand, but they took 10 overs to score the runs in a torturous period before Dallas put them out of their misery by bowling Mboweni for 22 off 72 balls.
Yikha then tore into the Limpopo middle-order, having Chauke, (6 off 27 balls) and Johan Harms (0) both caught in the same over and in his next over he trapped Atwell Mokgoloboto in front for a single as Limpopo crashed from 54/2 to 57/6.
Emile Kruger (4) and Louis Nel, who scored 13, then added 19 for the seventh wicket, but Yikha and Dallas then cleaned up the tail, with Yikha taking three of the final four to seal his six-wicket haul.
The Border chase got off to a rocky start as they lost three quick wickets and slumped to 19/3 with Akhanya Rebe (5), Ryan Kruger (9) and captain Matt Dewar (5), all back in the pavilion.
Yikha and Mqogi then safely took Border to lunch at 34/3 and after the break extended their partnership to 42 runs before Yikha was trapped lbw by Thabo Mosefowa for 15.
Dallas was then stumped for a nine-ball duck and Els hit a six as Mqogi kept a cool head to guide Border home...