North West, led by their find of the season, Alfonso Thomas, managed to make Border's expected cruise to victory a fairly bumpy one on Sunday morning.

The afternoon was 10 minutes old when Border clinched the win, but they had been made to sweat a little before getting home by 90 runs. Thomas and last man in Francois van der Merwe were largely responsible for that as they added a bright 57 for the 10th wicket.

For the former, who has been something of a not-out specialist this season, the day was one of personal triumph, even if it didn't end in a North West victory. His second half-century of the campaign, to go with an unbeaten 106, took his series aggregate to 512, surpassing by 10 the previous North West record of 502, set by Andre van Deventer in 1992/3, although he has batted no higher than number eight.

That was to prevent any negative impact on his bowling and his 28 wickets, including seven in this encounter, prove that he managed to get the balance just right.

North West had started 231 adrift on 78 for five, but a sixth-wicket stand of 53 between Glen Hewitt (48) and Mark Lavine (34) held up Border before Thomas and Van der Merwe, who made 24 off 35 balls, provided even stronger resistance.

For Border, the victory means that, like Western Province, they also go into this week's final in top form as they seek to make it third time lucky.

© MWP