Kyle Verreynne bettered Raynard van Tonder’s maiden List A century with a sparkling ton of his own to drive Western Province to a six-wicket Duckworth-Lewis victory over the North West Dragons at JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom.
A power failure due to loadshedding, when Western Province were 89/3 after 16.3 overs in pursuit of the Dragons’ 276/6, caused 12 overs to be lost with the visitors target reduced to 248 in 38 overs.
The break in play seemed to inspire Western Province captain Verreynne with the right-hander resuming after the break in a fiercely determined mood. He launched a vicious assault on the North West bowlers, in almost identical fashion to his Proteas rival Heinrich Klaasen’s demolition of Australia the previous night at SuperSport Park.
Verreynne was equally forceful against both pace and spin, taking on the Dragons’ premier bowler Senuran Muthusamy immediately after the break in play. With Muthusamy looking to dart the ball into the stumps, Verreynne was fleet of foot in rocking back and cutting the left-arm spinner for a couple of boundaries to keep the required 7.4 runs per over in check.
Verreynne treated Duan Jansen with equal disdain, slapping the lanky left-arm seamer for a couple of sixes over the mid-wicket boundary. But Jansen should have had the last laugh when Dragons captain Wihan Lubbe posted Lesiba Ngoepe on the square leg boundary in the hope of dismissing Verreynne.
The plan seemed set to work to perfection when Verreynne struck Jansen straight to Ngoepe, but the Dragons fielder spilled the chance and pushed the ball over the boundary for another six.
Verreynne was on 72 at that juncture, and he rubbed immediate salt into the gaping Dragons’ wounds by striking consecutive boundaries to take the game away from the home team.
He was, though, fully deserving of his century, utilising just 63 balls, striking 11 boundaries and four sixes, and took in the applause of his teammates with a bow in the direction of the dressingroom.
Unfortunately, the emotion of reaching the milestone, caused a rush of blood with Verreynne attempting a lap over debutant wicket-keeper Mika’eel Prince’s head off Kerwin Mungaroo, but only managed to find the short fine-leg to depart for a sparkling 101 off 65 balls.
Eddie Moore (41 not off 47 balls) ensured Verreynne’s dismissal did not precipitate a WP collapse with Mihlali Mpongwana (27 not out) comfortably taking the visitors home.
Earlier, Van Tonder had kept the Dragons innings together with a neatly compiled 129 not out off 145 balls that ensured the visitors posted a competitive total.
Van Tonder, who moved from the relegated Knights during the off-season, played the anchor role with captain Wihan Lubbe (46) and Senuran Muthusamy (34) and Jansen (33 not out) providing the impetus from the other end.
They faced some disciplined bowling from WP’s senior new-ball pair Beuran Hendricks (3/52) and Nandre Burger (2/45) that ensured the home team could not run away with their innings, which ultimately proved too little for a red-hot Verreynne and his WP team.
Scorecard
North West: 276/6 (Van Tonder 129, Hendricks 3/52)
Western Province: 248/4 (Verreynne 101, Moore 41*)
Western Province win by six wickets D/L method
IOL Sport