da fazobetai： The Eagles confirmed their top-of-the-table finish and headed for thefinal of the Standard Bank Cup with a convincing six-wicket win overthe Lions at Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein on Wednesday
da betcris： Keith Lane17-Feb-2005The Eagles confirmed their top-of-the-table finish and headed for thefinal of the Standard Bank Cup with a convincing six-wicket win overthe Lions at Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein on Wednesday.Winning the toss and batting first on a very good pitch the Lions made a conservative start against some tight bowling from Johannes van der Wath and Cliff Deacon. With the total on 12, at the start of the 6th over, Deacon induced Andrew Hall into an edged drive to be caught by the keeper, Morne van Wyk, for 10. A recovery of 52 runs was halted when Bacher pushed towards Craig Thyssen at mid-on and, calling too late, ran out HD Ackerman, at the bowler’s end for 17. Neil McKenzie (6) did not last long – he was beaten by turnand the bounce, pushing forward to Nicky Boje, for Van Wyk to take his second catch. At 73 for 3 the run rate had slipped below four to the over.Bacher, continuing with the form that he has shown all season, went tohis 50 off 81 balls. In trying to up the tempo he then top-edged a short ball from Deon Kruis to Thyssen at squareleg to be well caught for 52, and the Lions in trouble at 95 for 4 in after 27 overs.Forced into a more defensive mode, Justin Ontong and Vaughn vanJaarsveld put together a vital 50-run 5th wicket partnership, as theyconsolidated the innings with some excellent running between thewickets. Deacon got the breakthrough when Van Jaarsveld forced a fulltoss straight at Davey Jacobs at mid-on to be caught for 28, having puton 58 with Ontong.Ontong brought up his 50 in 54 balls as he increased his rate byimprovising well during the final slog overs. A near controversy wasalleviated by the television umpire Marais Erasmus when Jacobs at deepmidwicket, after dropping and palming the previous ball over the ropesfor six, took a good catch millimetres from stepping back on the rope to get rid of Ontong off Roger Telemachus for 73. His final 23 runs hadcome off just 11 balls.Ahmed Omar ran himself out for three while Derek Crookes played a little cameo of an innings as he ended undefeated on 21 having helped the Lions to 215 for 7.The Eagles made a quick start to their innings scoring 52 for the lossof two in the first 10 overs. Loots Bosman was trapped in front by David Terbrugge for seven and he was followed in a similar fashion by Morne van Wyk for 21 off the bowling of Crookes. Jacobs continued the momentum and when he was bowled by Hall for 23 the platform had been set for Boeta Dippenaar and Nicky Boje to pace themselves towards the target.Boje was caught at point for 60 with just 31 runs needed. He had timedhis innings well and was just starting to accelerate when he failed toget over a ball from Bacher.Dippenaar, in the end, saw the Eagles home and into the final as hefinished undefeated on 84 having played the anchor role once Boje cameto the wicket.
