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The Boland Rocks produced a stellar bowling effort to cruise through to the CSA T20 Challenge final after beating Western Cape in the semi-final at St. George's Park on Friday.
SCORECARD | CSA T20 Challenge - Western Province v Boland
The Rocks, who are making their T20 Challenge debut this year, sealed a seven-wicket win to book their place in Sunday's final against the Titans.
Western Province won the toss and chose to bat first in overcast conditions in Gqeberha, which proved to be the only win for Wayne Parnell's side.
WP got off to a shaky start losing hard-hitting opener Richard Levi for 17 by Imran Manack (1/19) but soon lost Tony de Zorzi (2) and Dane Vilas (3) in short succession.
Opener Jonathan Bird scored 31 off 32 balls before fast bowler Ziyaad Abrahams struck. But WP was soon reeling on 67 for 5 as Shaun von Berg bowled George Linde (3) to pick up his second wicket of the match.
Gavin Kaplan struck a run-a-ball 31 and Aviwe Mgijima contributed 16, but WP continued to lose wickets at regular intervals.
Spinner Siyabonga Mahima took two for 24 for the Rocks, but Abrahams was lethal and dismantled the rest of Western Province's batting line-up.
Western Province could only post 118 before being bundled out thanks to Abrahams' stellar four for 34 in his 3.5 overs.
Abrahams become the leading wicket-taker of the CSA T20 Challenge with 12 wickets with team-mate Von Berg on 11 wickets.
Chasing 119 for victory, the Rocks made easy work of the short target thanks to brothers Pieter and Janneman Malan.
Skipper Pieter Malan stood tall with the bat for Boland, scoring his fourth half-century and as a result, became the leading run-scorer of the competition.
A century stand between the brothers formed as Pieter Malan top-scored with run-a-ball 57 (six fours and a six) before he was caught in the deep off the bowling of Junaid Dawood (1/25).
WP spinner Aviwe Mgijima struck shortly after as ICC Emerging Player of the Year Janneman Malan reverse swept and was caught for 39.
In the same over, Mgijima (2/15) trapped Michael Copeland for a duck and Rocks sat on 104/3 - needing only 15 runs for victory - with two new batters in.
With four overs still remaining, Clyde Fortuin (11*) and Ferisco Adams (6*) got the Rocks over the line with eleven balls to spare.
The Rocks will join the Titans in Sunday's T20 Challenge final, scheduled at 10:00 in Gqeberha.
Scores in brief:
Western Province 118 all out in 19.5 overs (Gavin Kaplan 31, Jonathan Bird 31, Ziyaad Abrahams 4/34, Shaun von Berg 2/19)
Rocks 121/3 in 18.1 (Pieter Malan 57, Janneman Malan 39, Aviwe Mgijima, 2/15, Junaid Dawood 1/25)
Rocks won by 7 wickets with 11 balls to spare
