Winning the toss again, Cape Town chose on this occasion to bat first - and made a far better start than their disasterous effort of the day before. Dropped off just the fourth ball he faced, Shane Martin capitalised on his good fortune to strike four boundaries from his next nine deliveries before falling to a snorter, by which time his team had posted 30 from the first four overs. Fellow opening bat Francois Vermaak thereafer maintained this momentum by striking two sixes and a four within the space of eight balls himself, the side sweeping passed the fifty within barely six overs.

With Cape Town consequently nicely placed at 77 for two at the halfway stage, the introduction of veteran off spinner Ross Bannatyne clawed Pinelands back into contention. Claiming two wickets in his second over and one more in each of his last two, his four for 16 knocked the stuffing out of Cape Town's middle order - once again emphasising the important role that a good spinner can play in even the 20-over format of the game.

Thus finding themselves pegged back to 100 for six after 15 overs, Cape Town needed a good finish to post a defendable total on what was a smallish ground. Captain Marc de Beer responded with a quickfire 25 from 14 balls that included two fours and two sixes, while player-coach Wayne Hendricks worked the singles well in making a run-a-ball contribution of his own that ultimately took Cape Town to just shy of the 150-run mark.

Pinelands in their turn had to overcome a poor start, as both opening batsmen fell cheaply. A 46-run third wicket stand in under five overs between Shaun Heynes and former international Justin Kemp put them firmly back in the frame though, Heynes needing just 14 balls for his 26 before being bowled around his legs on the sweep.

It was the just breakthrough that Cape Town needed, and ultimately proved to be the turning point. Thereafter, in the course of Hendricks claiming the prize wicket of Kemp five overs later with his left-arm spin while conceding just a single from his first two overs, the Pinelands middle order collapsed to Kirk Wernars's medium-pacers as five wickets tumbled for 23 in the space of eight overs.

That left Pinelands in the unlikely position of needing 61 from their final four overs with just three wickets in hand. Nick McConnachie did his best though, crashing three sixes and two fours off eleven balls, before holing out on the long on boundary to become Brendon Young's second victim of his final over. This left the last-wicket pair needing an impossible 25 from the last over, which De Beer took himself to wrap up the game with a full straight delivery.

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