Johannesburg – Iinyathi openers Marco Marais and Mncedisi Malika produced a brutal opening partnership against a hapless Impalas outfit to help their side register a bonus point victory in a Pool D encounter featuring the Division Two teams in the CSA Provincial T20 Knock Out tournament on Monday.
The outgunned Impalas conceded 82 runs in the power play, as Marais and Malika tried to out hit each other against some truly wretched bowling. The car park was regularly found, while the suites around the Kimberley Oval were also comfortably cleared in a dominating display, that saw the Iinyathi, who are coached by Paul Adams, reach the target well within the 16 over-mark required to achieve the bonus point for the team batting second.
The pair put on 116 runs for the first wicket, with Marais making 65 off 35 balls that saw him hit two fours and seven sixes. Malika was less muscular, but struck two stylish sixes over long-off and then extra cover in his innings of 41 that came off only 32 balls.
The Impalas had recovered well with the bat after a sluggish start in which they’d scored just 34 runs in the power play and then slumped to 55/4 at the halfway stage in their innings. Jaundre Scheepers and Morne Venter shared a partnership of 96 runs for the fifth wicket, that saw them accelerate gradually as they came to terms with the nature of the pitch.
Venter, who picked up the two Iinyathi wickets with his medium pace, scored a maiden T20 half century, and eventually finishing not out on 56, which came off 40 balls and saw him hit four fours and two sixes. Scheepers, who was run out off the last ball of the innings, scored 31 off 30 balls, hitting just one six.
There was some good bowling from the East London based Iinyathi, with fast bowler Gideon Peters, grabbing the spotlight. He touched 140km/h on occasion, fast enough to unsettle the the Impalas top order batsmen. At one stage he found himself on a hat-trick, which he unfortunately missed, but he did finish with figures of 2/17.
The Impalas face the Warriors at 10am on Tuesday, with the Iinyathi taking on the Boland Rocks at 2.30pm.
SCORECARD
Limpopo Impalas 138/5 (Morne Venter 56, Juandre Scheepers 31, Gideon Peters 2/17, Thandolwethu Mnyaka 2/19)
Eastern Cape Iinyathi 139/2 (Marco Marais 65, Mncedisi Malika 41, Morne Venter 2/7)
Iinyathi win by eight wickets.
IOL Sport