Hosts NWU-Pukke will face Maties in their Varsity Cricket semifinal on Sunday after beating UJ by 18 runs.
Having only managed a modest total of 109/9, the Potchefstroom side produced an inspired bowling and fielding performance to dismiss UJ for just 91, which means that the Johannesburg team will face table-toppers UP-Tuks in the other semifinal.
NWU-Pukke got off to a somewhat tentative start as the UJ bowling attack started with some real aggression.
The first wicket fell in the third over when Janneman Malan was run out for a quickfire 20.
Wihan Lubbe tried to consolidate things with his captain Rohan Kruger, but he was caught on the boundary for 16 trying to force the pace and Armandt Erasmus fell in the same over when he chopped a ball from Harry van Straaten onto his own stumps.
That left the hosts on 55/3 at the halfway stage, and things got even tougher when Kruger was stumped for 17 in the 12th over.
With two new batsmen at the crease NWU-Pukke struggled to get any real momentum going, and lost regular wickets as they limped to their total of 109/9.
UJ made a cautious start to their chase, and lost their first wicket when Yaseen Valli top-edged a well-directed bouncer from Jovaun van Wyngaardt.
Delano Potgieter did not last long before he was trapped LBW by Lubbe for a duck, leaving UJ at 17/2 after the first five overs.
The pressure started to tell further as Grant Roelofsen was run out cheaply, and suddenly NWU-Pukke’s modest total seemd a long way off for UJ.
Van Straaten was next to go when he was bowled for a duck by Bjorn Fortuin and captain Neels Bergh was on his way next when he was caught in the deep leaving UJ reeling at 27/5.
The match took a turn once again in the Power Play Plus over, which saw UJ score 20 runs to bring themselves right back into it and set up a tense finish.
Another two run outs saw Mvelase and Broodryk on their way, and with them went UJ’s hopes of chasing the total down as they slumped to 91 all out.
Scores:
NWU-Pukke: 109/9 (J Malan 20, R Kruger 17; N Mvelase 4/15, H van Straaten 2/7)
UJ: 91 all out (J Broodryk 22, N Mvelase 14; B Fortuin 2/13, van Wyngaardt 2/14)
Teams:
NWU-Pukke: Wihan Lubbe, Kagiso Rapulana, Andre Malan, Wimpie Viljoen, Rohan Kruger (captain), Marques Ackerman, Henning du Plooy, Dewald Joubert, Bjorn Fortuin, Armandt Erasmus, Jovaun van Wyngaardt.
UJ: Yaseen Valli, Grant Roelofsen, Delano Potgieter, Neels Bergh (captain), Harry Van Straaten, Jayden Broodryk, Umar Asad, Ndumiso Mvelase, Keith Dudgeon, Matthew Varner, Damien Hutchinson.
