In-form Petersen pushes South Africa to victory

The opener Alviro Petersen picked up his second half-century of the Emerging Players Tournament as South Africa completed a nine-wicket victory against Karnataka State Cricket Association XI in a one-day match at Buderim. Petersen, who scored 59 against New Zealand A in a Twenty20 match on Monday, paced his innings over the first 30 overs before lifting his rate to secure his side a bonus point.

He finished with 82 from 105 balls with three sixes, including one over long-on to finish the match in the 39th over. Francois du Plessis was not out on 39 while Gulam Bodi (23) was the only man to fall in the chase.

Karnataka were in good shape at 3 for 95 but they lost 4 for 21 in a collapse started by Johan Botha, who picked up 2 for 35 from his ten overs. KD Pawan worked hard for his 48 until he fell to Thandi Tshabalala, but without his stabilising influence the innings fell away and they were dismissed for 158.

Rajesh Kamath, the Karnataka coach, had hoped for a total of 210 that might have been competitive, but they slipped to their fourth loss of the week. "We are a state side from India and we are up against sides with international players," he said. "We have only four players who are regularly in the state team, but with what we have here we are doing well."

Australian Academy was unable to ruin New Zealand A's perfect record as they fell to a 10-run defeat under lights at Caloundra. New Zealand had six batsmen with scores between Grant Elliott's 26 and Nathan McCullum's high of 38 and they scrambled to a useful 216.

The home bowlers spread the wickets around with Brendan Drew, Anand Rajan, Aaron Heal and Aaron Finch picking up two each and they struck regularly enough to prevent a large total. However, the Academy's chase did not go to plan and they were 5 for 87 when Phillip Hughes became the second of James McMillan's two victims. Luke Pomersbach (32) and Michael Hill led the recovery with a 67-run partnership but Bradley Scott ended their stand and Hill was last out for 55.