Full marks for Warriors in Standard Bank Pro20 weekend

The Chevrolet Warriors made it two out of two during this past weekend's Standard Bank Pro20 matches against the Diamond Eagles and the Nashua Dolphins.

Taking on the Diamond Eagles at Buffalo Park in East London on Friday, the Chevrolet Warriors continued their winning streak in East London when they took victory in the last over to win by three runs.  It was by no means an easy game for either side, but excellent bowling by the Warriors' Rusty Theron secured the deal for the Warriors. 

Winning the toss and electing to bat first, the Chevrolet Warriors were in trouble on 1/1 after Jon Jon Smuts was caught off the bowling of Jandre Coetzee in the first over.  Another solid batting performance by Colin Ingram helped the Warriors to 149/7 in their 20 overs.  Ingram who has been in superb form throughout the MTN40 series knocked 61 off 49 balls, while former Proteas spinner Nicky Boje added a useful 32 off 20 balls to the Warriors' total.  Setting the Eagles a total of 150 to win, the Chevrolet Warriors had defending to do with ball in hand.

Makhaya Ntini and Garnett Kruger got the Warriors off to a good start by getting rid of the Eagles' opening pair within the first six overs, but the Eagles' Ryan Bailey wasn't going down without a fight.  Devastating with the bat, Bailey smashed an unbeaten 73 off 47 balls including eight fours and two sixes to help the Eagles to 142/5 in the last over.  The final over offered a challenging job to Rusty Theron, but in the finest death bowling style, Theron managed near perfect yorkers to pick up the wicket of Con de Lange and defend his team's total for a tight Standard Bank Pro20 opener victory.

The Chevrolet Warriors on Sunday travelled to Durban for a meeting with their MTN40 final rivals, the Nashua Dolphins.  The Dolphins were intent to settle the score after their loss to the Warriors in East London, but it wasn't to be for the KwaZulu-Natal team. 

The Warriors once again batted first and managed 162/5 in their 20 overs, with Arno Jacobs making 54 off 51 balls and Jon Jon Smuts showing off his skills with the bat by striking 43 off 31 balls.  Dangerman Colin Ingram was caught LBW by Pierre de Bruyn with his score on 32 off only 15 balls, but by this time the damage was already done.  The Dolphins had to play catch-up right from their first ball with the required run rate of over 8 runs an over steadily ticking upwards with each passing ball. 

Dolphins captain Imraan Khan did his best to play attacking cricket and scored 45 off 31 runs, but the lack of a solid and consistent partnership hampered the Dolphins' run chase.  The Chevrolet Warriors' bowlers were on target with Ntini, Theron, Boje and Lyall Meyer each picking up two wickets.  In the end, the Dolphins could only reach 139/8, resulting in the Chevrolet Warriors winning their second Standard Bank Pro20 match by 23 runs.

Thanks to their two wins, the Chevrolet Warriors are currently top of the log in the Standard Bank Pro20 series.  Don't miss the Chevrolet Warriors in action in their next Standard Bank Pro20 matches: