It's not often a fast bowler is reduced to tears in the middle of a match-winning spell, but that was the lot of burly Easterns opener Andre Nel, when he realised that his hero, Allan Donald, was clearly in distress after being felled by a bouncer from him as their match neared completion.

Nel had already taken four of the five wickets he would end up with, at a cost of 43 runs, when the incident occurred, with Donald on 13 and Free State struggling to avoid defeat. After resuming on 116 for one, Free State had fallen to 170 for seven, largely as a result of Nel's blitzkrieg, when Donald joined Rasheed Lewis, who blazed away in a losing cause for an unbeaten 49.

The stand had just started to become a little irritating when Donald ducked into a wickedly rising ball from Nel, which didn't get up as high as he'd anticipated and hit him above the left ear. Donald went down and took several minutes to recover, but a couple of balls later, in trying to avoid another lifter, he stumbled and fell, remaining prone for some time.

Nel, who'd only been doing his job, was seen standing at his bowling mark, head in hands, and clearly shedding a few tears as Donald was treated before being helped off the field and off to hospital via a hastily summoned ambulance a little later.

The United Cricket Board of South Africa's communications manager, Bronwyn Wilkinson, said she had spoken to Donald and he had been discharged with "mild concussion", a brain scan having revealed no bleeding on the brain.

Donald's departure left a rampant Easterns side needing just two wickets for a vital victory, which earned them 16 points and took them nine points clear of Free State on the Super Eight log.

Gareth Flusk got rid of Dewald Pretorius after a brisk 10, but Victor Mpitsang and Lewis delayed the inevitable until after lunch, when Nel castled the former for a duck to give Easterns a priceless 109-run victory.

Mike Rindel was made man of the match for his two half-centuries.

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