MARK WARD

The cats have been thrown among the pigeons in the race for the Premier League title following Cape Town’s emphatic win over log leaders Western Province.

Cape Town’s 98-run win over WP at the Wally Wilson Oval on Saturday has opened the race for the Western Province Association’s top honours with Rondebosch trailing WP by a single point on 61, in second spot, while the men from Plumstead have moved within striking distance on 66 points in third place.

Cape Town’s stalwart, Darren Rolfe, who took 2/32 in 6.2 overs, says the victory puts pressure on WP in the race for the title. “That’s all we can do at this stage, is to put pressure on and who knows what can happen. We are in it to win, but let's see how things develop,” he quipped after the game.

Cape Town put up a respectable 230/9 after they were sent in to bat by the homeside with Robin Das producing a good batting performance with 85 sparkling runs from 114 deliveries while Geoff Dods added a patient innings of 51 runs. Justin Broad’s 2/37 and Bailey Aarons’ 3/47 could, however, not stem the run tide from the visitors' chase.

The early departure of Derek Mitchell (2), one of the season’s leading run scorers (733), with the score on 26 was a major setback for WP while his opening partner Gavin Kaplan (33) (runout by Hilio De Abreu) contributed to them only reaching 132 all out.

Next week WP faces another tough challenge when they square up to Claremont. The outcome of this match will definitely have a bearing on the destiny of the title.

Claremont's hopes of defending the league title suffered a major blow when they went down by 48 runs to the University of the Western Cape on Sunday.

The students, however, recovered well from their shock two-wicket defeat to Rylands on Saturday.

Against Claremont it was a rejuvenated UWC-side who amassed 230/6 thanks to a splendid 108 innings from Kia Curran while Chaise Botha contributed 49 off 48 deliveries. The visitors were bowled out for 182 in 46 overs with Abubakr Samodien 2/42 and Cullan Larkin 3/29 bowling extremely well for UWC.

Meanwhile, Primrose’s woes continued after they went down by 11 runs to Green Point. The bowlers performed well to restrict the homeside to 205 in 42.2 overs. Despite a gallant fightback Primrose were bowled out for 194 in 49 over with coach Qaasim Adams contributing 51 runs.

Results:

Milnerton vs Claremont: Claremont won by 8 wickets

Green Point vs Primrose:

Green Point won by 11 runs

Durbanville vs Kraaifontein:

Durbanville won by 44 runs

Bellville vs Rondebosch: Rondebosch won by 5 wickets

UWC vs Rylands: Rylands won by 2 wickets

Cape Town vs WP Cricket Club: Cape Town won by 98 runs

UWC vs Claremont:

Fixtures:

Bellville vs UWC; Cape Town vs Green Point; Claremont vs

WP Cricket Club; Durbanville vs Rondebosch; Milnerton vs Kraaifontein; Primrose vs Rylands. Sunday: Primrose vs UWC.

Darren Rolfe of Cape Town who took 2/32 in 6.2 over during a Western Province Association Premier League match against Western Province Cricket Club at the Wally Wilson Oval.