Gibbs provides reminder in losing cause

Herschelle Gibbs reminded South African fans what they'd been missing in his enforced absence from the international scene and served notice to the country's selectors that he is running into form just in time for the lifting of his ban with a superb 105 for Western Province against the Highveld Striker at the Wanderers on Saturday.

Unfortunately for Gibbs, his majestic knock, off just 94 balls with 13 fours and two sixes, which earned him the man of the match award, was in a losing cause. Apart from Claude Henderson's whirlwind 27 late on, none of the other Province batsmen lent substantial support in pursuit of a mid-range target of 227 and they were dismissed for 205 with 13 balls left in the innings, to lose by 21 runs.

David Terbrugge, who returned from injury to face his team's biggest domestic adversaries, was the real thorn in the Province flesh, grabbing four for 31, including the vital scalp of Gibbs, caught behind by Nic Pothas off a peach of a delivery when he had been brought back into the attack for just that purpose.

At the time, Province were cruising, a situation due entirely to Gibbs as he had made 105 out of a total of 152. Probably the home side's only chance of turning it around was to get rid of Gibbs and Terbrugge came through for his captain, Clive Eksteen.

Gibbs had been savage on anything wayward, after a quiet start to his innings, thrashing Walter Masimula for three fours and a six in his second - and not surprisingly last - over and going to his ton with an extraordinary flat slog-sweep off Eksteen that screamed over the boundary well in front of square.

There had been earlier fireworks. Adam Bacher had anchored the home side's innings with 73 off 95 balls and Daryll Cullinan had belted 22 off 14 balls before trying one shot too many, but the most impressive performance came from Marthinus Otto, the Strikers' new recruit from Rand Afrikaans University. Playing with the poise of a veteran in just his second game, Otto finished on 47 not out off 41 balls, having played a major role in setting a defendable total of 226 for seven after a mid-innings collapse.

It was Province's fifth defeat in seven games in the competition and they could be out of contention for a semi-final spot, while the Strikers' record improves to 2-2.