RUSTENBURG, 12 October 2016 – Western Province painted Central Gauteng and Eastern Province into a corner on day three as Boland strengthened their claim for promotion in the B-Section clashes in the South African Mid-Amateur Inter-Provincial at Rustenburg Golf Club on Wednesday.
A-SECTION
It’s tight at the top after log leaders Central Gauteng suffered their first defeat in this year’s championship at the hands of Western Province. The 2012 champions went down 7 – 5, but an 8 – 4 victory over Eastern Province helped the team cling to a narrow lead in the standings.
The two teams are tied on eight points, but Central leads Province by 1.5 games points, while KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng North with four points each, are a distant third and fourth with 28.5 and 36 games points respectively.
Since Central Gauteng has played five of their six scheduled matches, they will enjoy a bye on Thursday and face KwaZulu-Natal in the final round. Province, with two to go, face Gauteng North in round four. The 2013 champions will take on Ekurhuleni on Friday, who still hugs the bottom of the log after a 7.5 – 4.5 whipping from KwaZulu-Natal.
Province won two and halved the other games in the foursomes against Eastern Province, while their clash against Central Gauteng ended 2-all.
Weyers Janse van Rensburg, Brent Kirstein and Gerlou Roux scored winning runs against both opponents, Stefan Blommaert served up another point for Province against Central Gauteng and Elton James and Werner Theart got the vital halves to secure victory for the side.
James, Theart and Cameron Johnston added to Western Province’s tally against Eastern Province and Riaan Lewis and Blommaert both halved their games to celebrate a four point victory.
Kalvin Parsons, Ashwin Krishen, Murray Golson, Derek Scullard and Lyall McNeill stretched KwaZulu-Natal’s foursomes lead to a 7.5 victory in the singles.
B-SECTION
A little rest can go a long way. After enjoying a second round bye, Boland mowed down Northern Cape 7 – 5 and thumped Border 10.5 – 1.5 to edge out Mpumalanga for the number one spot in the standings.
Patrick Ludick and Udesh Pillay halved against Robert and Anton Oosthuizen in the foursomes and seasoned veteran Ben Jonas knocked out Philip Spies 3 & 1 to prevent a whitewash against Boland.
The foursomes against Northern Cape ended in a dead heat after the Oosthuizen duo won their game and Louis Moolman partnered Jaco Spies to a 3 & 2 win for Boland.
Moolman, Ferdi van der Merwe, Andre Ficks and Jaco Spies put Boland in the driver’s seat in the singles and Paul Baatjies and Anton Oosthuizen both halves close out the two point victory.
Northern Cape had their revenge, though, and crushed Border 10 – 2.
Meanwhile a well-rested Mpumalanga took a two point lead in the foursomes and never let up, trouncing Southern Cape 7 – 5. The victory took Mpumalanga’s tally to six points, just one shy of Boland.
The two sides will contest each other in Friday’s final round, but Mpumalanga has two chances to reclaim the lead in the promotion battle when it tackles Free State and Northern Cape on Thursday. Boland faces Limpopo in the remaining match.
A-SECTION RESULTS – ROUND 3
KwaZulu-Natal 7.5 vs Ekurhuleni 4.5
Western Province 7 vs Central Gauteng 5
Western Province 10.0 vs Eastern Province 2.0
Central Gauteng 8 vs Eastern Province 4
A-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Central Gauteng (5, 4, 0, 1, 8, 34.5)
2 Western Province (4, 4, 0, 0, 8, 32)
3 KwaZulu-Natal (5, 2, 0, 3, 4, 28.5)
4 Gauteng North (4, 2, 0, 2, 4, 26)
5 North West (3, 1, 0, 2, 2, 17)
6 Eastern Province (4, 1, 0, 3, 2, 16.5)
7 Ekurhuleni (3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 13.5)
B-SECTION RESULTS – ROUND 3
Boland 10 vs Border 1.5
Boland 7 vs Northern Cape 5
Northern Cape 10 vs Border 2
Mpumalanga 7 vs Southern Cape 5
B-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Boland (4, 3, 1, 0, 7, 31)
2 Mpumalanga (3, 3, 0, 0, 6, 27.5)
3 Free State (3, 2, 1, 0, 5, 19)
4 Southern Cape (5, 2, 0, 3, 4, 32)
5 Northern Cape (4, 1, 0, 3, 2, 23.5)
6 Border (5, 1, 0, 4, 2, 19)
7 Limpopo (4, 1, 0, 3, 2, 16)
