Snyman masterclass leads Eastern Storm to first Pro20 win

Jurie Snyman shone with both bat and ball to lead World Sports Betting Eastern Storm to their first win of the YesPlay Pro20 Cup, singlehandedly helping them to an 18-run victory over Flexbrands Knights in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.

Snyman contributed 95 as Easterns posted a 186-run total at the Mangaung Oval, before also recording a hat-trick as he returned the day’s best bowling figures of 4/16 to restrict their hosts to just 168 to secure their first maximum points.

Having been asked to bat first, the visitors lost Ronan Hermann for just eight runs before Kabelo Sekhukhune put up a fight with 38 off 23 until his dismissal by Mbongiseni Mhlanga. The latter was also responsible for Christopher Britz’s wicket for just nine.

Snyman then rescued the innings with eights sixes and five fours to give his team something to defend against the recently promoted Knights.

It took exactly half of the hosts’ innings for Snyman to find his first wicket when he got rid of Gihahn Cloete for eight runs.

The very next two balls saw him dismiss both Emmanuel Motswiri and Tiaan van Vuuren without troubling the scorers, both caught and bowled by the 31-year-old while he also got the wicket of Jonathan Bird for 58 to complete his impressive performance on the night.

YesPlay Cobras had to sweat for their six-wicket win over Defabet Boland at YesPlay Newlands in Cape Town, securing the victory with just one ball remaining in the fight for second place in Pool A.

Having elected to bowl first the home side struggled to break the opening partnership of Blayde Capell and Gavin Kaplan, who put up 66 before the latter was dismissed for 31.

His opening partner eventually departed for a top score of 50 runs, while Neil Brand’s 23 and an unbeaten 24 from Imran Manack contributed to Boland’s 174/7 in their allotted 20 overs.

Cobras’ chase got off to a shaky start with Jiveshan Pillay bowled by Manack for just 10 runs, but Joshua van Heerden played the perfect supporting role to Kashief Josephs who went on to post 82 from just 41 deliveries.

Daniel Smith also showed muscle with the bat with a well-carved 44 not out alongside George Linde at the end, as the two faced a nervy final over to avoid their first home defeat of the competition.

YesPlay Pro20 Cup resumes on Friday with Garden Route Badgers taking on Defabet Warriors in Oudtshoorn, while Wenbro Impalas welcome Eastern Cape Iinyathi in Polokwane.