PORT ELIZABETH, Oct 13 - Eastern Province dismissed Boland with the penultimate ball of the match to win by one run.

Boland, chasing EP's moderate 183 for seven, reached the last six balls needing as many runs - but with nine wickets down. Charl Langeveldt cut the first delivery straight to point. But James Bryant dropped the catch and gave away a run into the bargain. The next ball yielded a leg-bye and the next two a pair of singles, leaving Boland to score two off two to win. Which was where fate stepped in and offered Bryant the opportunity to make amends by decreeing some textbook tailenders' running between the wickets. Bryant made no mistake and threw down the stumps to run out Henry Williams.

So ended a game that began with EP dwindling to 45 for six in the 22nd over. While the pitch was a tad uneven early in the match it wasn't nearly as bad as that scoreline suggests, while none of the Boland bowlers could claim full credit for their team's early success.

Rather, it came down to rank poor batting, which was confirmed when Justin Kemp and Denys Murray put their heads down and added 76 for the seventh wicket. Kemp and Meyrick Pringle then shared 62 for the unbroken eighth with Pringle hitting two sixes in his 25 not out off 21 balls. Man-of-the-match Kemp finished unbeaten on 95 off 128 balls with eight fours and two sixes.

Boland slipped to 92 for six in the 26th over in reply before meaningful resistance came in the form of a sixth-wicket stand of 71 between Piet Barnard and Bradley Player.

However, Mfuneko Ngam, on his way to figures of four for 26, stopped the visitors in their tracks by bowling Player for 36 with the first ball of the 42nd over, followed two balls later by Neil Carter being caught at mid-on. Nine balls after that Nantie Hayward caught and bowled Barnard for 59 to make it 173 for nine and prompt the drama of the final over.

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