The finish was indeed classic nail-biting stuff of the highest order, but looking back afterwards it was the visitors who probably fluffed their chance to take a win that they had played themselves into a good position to take - despite chasing a challenging target of 211 to win, they required just five runs from the last five balls for victory. However, the home side's SACS youngster Kirk Wernars displayed a cool maturity that belied his age, bowling a tight final over to keep the contest alive. Thus it came down to Almar needing two runs from the final delivery, but Wernars castled Liam Brittow instead to leave Cape Town triumphant - a perfect end to his fine bowling spell of three for 20 from his eight overs.

Almar had nevertheless done well to come as close as they did, as only twice before in the last twelve seasons had a side batting second at the Boon Wallace Oval managed to reach 200 in this format of the game. That they did so was initially thanks to Chad Sabata and Marc de Beer (42 runs off 49 balls), who gave the visitors a great starting platform at 74 for one from 18 overs. Thereafter, solid middle-order batting from Steve Adshead (42 off 43 balls), captain Zeke Snyman and Nick Dunn maintained Almar's momentum, despite the bowling efforts of Clive Gie (two for 50) and Tom Main (two for 43). Indeed, Almar should have wrapped up the game after entering the final nine overs needing just 44 runs to win with six wickets in hand, but Andre Olwagen initiated a Cape Town fight-back that captured three wickets for three runs in the space of 14 deliveries, throwing everything back into the melting pot to set up the thrilling finish.

Earlier, after winning the toss and deciding to bat first, the Cape Town innings had quickly become something of a two-man show - Dominic Telo with the bat and Dave Sandmann with the ball. It was Sandmann who struck first, taking three wickets in his first two overs as three of the home side's top five failed to score. Telo survived a difficult chance to cover when still on 22 almost immediately afterwards too, but thereafter drew on all of his first class experience with Western Province, the Cape Cobras and the English county Derbyshire to settle down nicely and start rebuilding the innings. Reaching his fifty from 81 balls, he needed just 34 more deliveries to complete an excellent century, courtesy of four overthrows to go with a six and twelve fours. Batting under pressure though, he couldn't have done it alone, and received able assistance from captain Jonathan Holgate and Tom Main (35 from 28 balls) to transform a very shaky 35 for four into a far more substantial 166 for five. Thus, even though the momemtum tapered off towards the end (the boundary was found just once in the final nine overs, with Sandmann capturing two more wickets to finish with five for 40), Cape Town was ultimately able to post a competitive 210 from their allotted 45 overs. As matters turned out, it would be just enough!

 Match photo's