Date-stamped : 22 Apr97 - 18:20
Explosive Simons blows away Sky Blues

Trevor Chesterfield

Eric Simons has, in his time, blown away a number of Northern
Transvaal victory plans with the sort of explosive performance he
provided at Centurion Park yesterday.

And his reversed role as pinch-hitter was just what Western Province
needed to sink the Sky Blue's hopes of reaching the Standard Bank Cup
final at the week-end in this rescheduled semi-final after Sunday's
match was abandoned because of rain with Northerns well placed to
win.

Province now meet Natal in the first leg at Newlands on Friday with
the second and third leg (if necessary), being day-night matches. With
man-of-the-match Simons, leading the charge over the final six overs
of the innings, that saw him blast his fifth career limited-overs
half-century, Province managed to achieve a defendable target of 215.
His score of 59 came off only 32 balls with three sixes and four
fours.

What Northerns put together in reply was a lamentable 142 in only
34.2 overs as the innings went into a rapid decline after the
departure, at 108, of Steve Elworthy. That it was Simons that grabbed
the wicket was just another reason why the old Province war horse was
the touch of sun that melted Northerns' resistance who had stood
firm so long in a season that began in September.

But to loose seven wickets for only 34 runs in a matter of 48 balls
showed a lack of experience by the middle and lower order batsmen,
showed a lack of experience by the middle and lower order batsmen,
placed under pressure by Andre Seymore's innings of 34 off 69 balls.
Yet when Province had reached 149 for six at the start of the 40th
over, Northern's must have fancied their chances of being in the
final against Natal.

Some quality bowling, supported by tight ground fielding, strangled
Province's bid to go over the top in the early and middle overs of
the innings. But Simons, arriving with the score at a laboured 130
for five in the 36th over, new he had a battle on his hands if
Province hoped to mount a challenging target. The result was picking
up the pace and bounce of the pitch that was even slower than it was
on Sunday. Over the final six overs, however,  Simons shattered the
hopes of what had been a highly competitive fielding performance from
the Sky Blues. Sixty runs were pumped out at frenetic pace. Fanie de
Villier's figures were wrecked as he gave away 24 runs in his last
two overs and the Northern's captain, Mark Davis, was punished with
equal impunity with two big sixes in a final over that gave away 20

"It was so important for us to reach 200 as we saw that as a
psychological barrier", Simons said.

And while Provinces' cause was helped by an innings of tenacious
purpose by HD Ackerman, dropped twice after he had joined Gary
Kirsten, helped add 60 for the third wicket. With the score at 29 for
two he edged Rudi Bryson to Seymore, the only slip, who dropped the
catch. Seymore at deep mid-on missed Ackerman a second time off the
first ball of the 22nd over, bowled by Davis, when the batsman had
34 and Province were 76 for two. Both catches were crucial to
Northerns' cause especially as the reliable partnership of Mike
Rindel and Roy Pienaar failed to get Northerns the runs they needed
to build a platform for victory.

Source :: The Pretoria News

<END> Contributed by Tony Hassett (hassett@cricinfo.com)