WP and Titans on course for SuperSport Series final

Western Province and Northerns Titans are the early favourites to meet in this season's SuperSport Series final after the first round of Super Six matches ended on Monday. With Gary Kirsten hitting a mammoth 244, WP were able to beat Eastern Province by 90 runs on Newlands while the Titans had a comfortable seven-wicket win against Griquas at SuperSport Park. Third-placed KwaZulu-Natal dodged around the weather to trounce Easterns by an innings and 123 runs in Durban.

Kirsten's 244 enabled WP to amass 504 for eight at Newlands, to which EP batted most of the way down the order to post 404 for nine in reply. Kirsten was again in the runs in the WP second innings, making 72 as he and Jonathan Trott (62) enabled Province to declare at 189 for four.

Set 290 in 79 overs to win, EP crumbled against the left-arm seam of Charl Willoughby, despite Carl Bradfield's 80 at the top of the order. Willoughby took six for 44 as EP were bowled out for 199.

At SuperSport Park, Martin van Jaarsveld scored his second big century of the match to steer the Titans home after Griquas had seemed to have played themselves into an unbeatable position with 529 for six in the first innings with Martyn Gidley making an unbeaten 215.

Van Jaarsveld made 182 not out as Northerns replied with 423 for five and then hit an unbeaten 158 as Northerns tracked down a winning target of 342 with seven wickets to spare, scoring at better than five an over throughout their innings. Titans' skipper Gerald Dros (93 not out) shareding in an unbroken fourth wicket stand of 196 in just 24 overs with Van Jaarsveld as Northerns ripped apart the Griquas attack.

In Durban, the Dolphins had more trouble with the weather than Eastens in completing an innings victory. KZN's 443 for seven was built around Doug Watson's 153 and a 103 from Hashim Amla, the South African under 19 captain. Easterns were bundled out for 137 in their first innings and fared little better in making 183 in their second turn at bat.

In the SuperSport Shield, Free State beat Border by seven wickets in a lowing scoring match in Bloemfontein notable for Makhaya Ntini's six for 37, including the hat-trick, in the Free State first innings. Boeta Dippenaar eventually made an unbeaten 102 to guide Free State to victory after a nervous start to their second innings.

And in Paarl, Boland drew with the Highveld Strikers in a match that contained centuries from Marthinus Otto (143) and Stephen Cook (101) for the Strikers and Johan Strydom's 120 for Boland.