Date-stamped : 24-12-1997 Match Report WP win and now Newlands is set for North-South battle Mark Etheridge As frank as ever, Western Province cricket captain Craig Matthews admitted "it wasn't pretty!" as he summed up the home side's narrow Standard Bank League cricket win over Natal at Newlands last night. Just as frankly, the more than 13 000 supporters would have welcomed the two victory points as though they were Christmas gift-wrapped. Cometh the hour, cometh the man and who more fitting than Matthews to hit the winning runs off the penultimate ball of the night in yet another Newlands nailbiter? The three-wicket win now sets up the classic North v South clash Province v Northerns Titans on New Year's Day to decide the outcome of the league. It's a winner-take-all situation and Province will quietly fancy their chances at home to the unbeaten Titans. Last night's match was won as much by some fine middle-order batting by Paul Kirsten as by a stunning Natal collapse which saw them plummet from 189 for four to 206 all out. "I thought we did well to pull them back from that position," reflected Matthews. "They certainly looked like getting 250 at one stage. "This time out we didn't bowl well and there wasn't the urgency in the field, but the important thing is to win and hopefully we can turn our two wins in a row to three next week." Natal will spend some time wondering just how they lost this one. After an initial setback that saw Doug Watson and Mark Bruyns out with 20 runs on the board, former test opener Andrew Hudson and South African A side all-rounder Neil Johnson got stuck in and by the time both were out the score had climbed to 108. Dale Benkenstein scored 59, but Errol Stewart's demise started a domino effect that saw the last five wickets fall for 17 runs. On a night which saw the usually penetrative Brett Schultz looking pretty ordinary with figures of one for 30 from six overs, Alan Dawson's three for 19 and Eric Simons' three for 50 did the damage. The Province innings got off to a flyer with 13 runs coming from Jon Bastow's opening over. When Bradley Player was caught off the last ball off the fifth over there were already 28 runs on the board. Pinch-hitter Player was replaced by another of the same ilk in the shape of Dave Rundle and the move paid off. "We played around with the batting order." said Matthews. "It seemed to work because Dave got 32 from 44 balls which you couldn't really expect someone coming at No 8 to do." Indeed, after Rundle went the score was 77 for two and the stage was set. Unfortunately HD Ackerman didn't fully appreciate it, getting out stumped by Keith Forde for 20 off the bowling of Mark Bruyns, who until last night had taken just one day/night wicket at an average of 59 this season. WP's batting reshuffle had a lot to do with injuries as John Commins and Faiek Davids pulled out with hamstring injuries, giving Donovan Koch a first cap. Hassan Pangarker hit a brisk 20 from 30 balls before falling to a diving catch by Stewart on the square-leg boundary, by which stage the asking rate was already up to a run a ball for the last 15 overs. To their credit, though, the WP batsmen showed more fortitude than has been the case for most of the season and Kirsten's 38 off 42 balls was backed up by a quick 10 (13 balls) by Simons. After Kirsten departed on 197 the work had largely been done and it was left to Dawson and Matthews to get through to the final over which saw just four runs needed for the win. Best of the Natal bowling was left-armer Gary Gilder's two for 25 from 8.5 overs and Ant Botha's two for 31 from nine. Benkenstein's knock won him the man-of-the-match award. Source: Cape Argus Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)