South Africa maintained their 100% record at the Over-50 Cricket World Cup on Friday, easing to a seven-wicket win against a gutsy Welsh side in Milnerton.
Wales had been bowled out for just 45 a day earlier, but showed tremendous fight to recover from 57/4 to post a very competitive 215/8 thanks to half-centuries from Mike Cann and Simon Wood. Former internationals Clive Eksteen (2/26) and Alan Dawson (2/27) were the pick of the bowlers.
The Proteas Veterans batsmen were very solid in their response, with captain Louis Koen hitting 44 off 42 and Andre Peters providing the anchor role with 53. Craig Lyons got 54 before he was run out, but the star of the show was Morne Cilliers, who bludgeoned his way to an unbeaten 54 off just 30 balls, hitting two fours and six sixes.
That takes the hosts to a perfect haul of eight points from four matches, inching ever closer to a semifinal berth.
New Zealand, who themselves have been near perfect so far, showed their class with an eight-wicket win against the West Indies. The Windies set a very good target of 235 thanks to Delroy Morgan’s 100, but Richard Petrie (70) and Robbie Frew (77) made light work of the chase as they cruised to an eight-wicket win.
Sri Lanka, one of the surprise-packages so far, chalked up another victory - this time by six wickets against Canada. Suwanji Madanayake took 3/17 as Canada crumbled to 119 all out, before Prasanna Jayawardena (42) and Carmen Mapatuna (33*) made sure of the win.
At Camps Bay High School, UAE got their first-ever World Cup win, beating Namibia by seven wickets. Ambey Arun Parwatkar was the star with the ball as the Africans could only set a target of 113, and Rafiullah Syed’s unbeaten 54 meant they got there with just the three batsmen out.
At Wynberg High School, an unbeaten 92-run partnership between Stuart Carlisle (66) and Timothy Bartlett (31) ensured Zimbabwe beat the USA by six wickets. The Americans batted first and were bowled out for 140, with Andrew Walton the star of the show with 3/35.
England beat India in a thriller at Bergvliet High School, winning by five wickets with just three balls to spare. Verinder Bhoombla’s 71 helped India set a competitive target of 218, and they looked well on course for victory but for Naseer Ahmed’s match-winning 72* off 77 balls. England next face top-of-the-table South Africa in Franschhoek on Monday.