UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE 164-7 (Karlheinz Ehrenreich 43*, Justin Jonas 34, Nathan Palmer 3/45) beat CAPE TOWN 163-5 (Mark Ritchie 61) by one run.
A bungled run chase by Cape Town in their limited overs clash at the Boon Wallace Oval against the University of the Western Cape on 5 November 2005 left them stranded one run short with half their wickets still in hand - and their big-hitters unused.
Enjoying a rich run of form, Mark Ritchie’s third successive fifty had set the home side up for a comfortable victory at 99 for one, but the students maintained a disciplined attack that did not concede a single wide in the final 38 overs. Four wickets tumbled inside six overs instead, putting the game back in the balance.
Cape Town then crucially erred by batting the orthodox Jonathan Holgate ahead of the big-hitting Nathan Palmer, when conditions made scoring at even four to the over challenging, and the visitors were able to slowly squeeze the life from the run chase. Unable to find the boundary once in their 14 overs together, Holgate and Kyle Coetzer were forced to scramble ones and twos, and seven needed off the last over proved to be a bridge just too far.
Earlier Cape Town had restricted the students in damp and seamer-friendly conditions to such an extent that they had struggled to 86 for five with just 13 overs remaining. However, Karlheinz Ehrenreich and Justin Jonas added 54 at a-run-a-ball, as the last 80 balls of the students’ innings produced 78 runs. Although Palmer benefited from their big hits, they had ultimately done enough to push the total just beyond the home side’s reach.