Van Jaarsveld century boosts Titans

MUMBAI: The Nashua Titans took a major step towards a play-off spot in the Momentum One-Day Cup with an easy win over the Chevrolet Warriors at Willowmoore Park, Benoni, on Sunday.
An unbeaten century by captain Martin van Jaarsveld took the fight out of the Chevrolet Warriors after Albie Morkel and Roelof van der Merwe had earlier shared seven wickets between them.
There is still some competition for the semifinal spots, but the Nashua Titans have given themselves a major advantage by this victory while the Chevrolet Warriors are now virtually left without any hope of qualifying themselves.
The Chevrolet Warriors won the toss and chose to bat first. They were unable to get a proper move-on despite some bright batting by Ashwell Prince in the role of opener.
He scored 41 while captain Davy Jacobs contributed 51 off 49 balls. As he has done often this season, he was unable to convert this good start into a truly meaningful innings.
Wickets fell at regular intervals and, with no other batsmen able to stay in for long enough, the Chevrolet Warriors ended on 241. Colin Ackermann was given a chance in the middle-order as was Border bowler Ayabulela Gqamane, and both got into the 20s as did Basheeru Walters.
The Nashua Titans bowlers kept their grip on proceedings. Morkel bowled with aggression, picking up three for 35 in his ten overs including gloving Colin Ingram, one of his best performances with the ball in some time.
He was trumped by the left-arm spin of van der Merwe, who took four for 50. Van der Merwe was given the responsibility of bowling the final over, and conceded just nine runs including a six from the bat of Makhaya Ntini. David Wiese also responded well to the responsibility of bowling first change, conceding just 30 in a rare full spell.
The Chevrolet Warriors needed early wickets to be competitive, but instead saw Henry Davids and Heino Kuhn plundering early boundaries. Davis went for 30 as Andrew Birch made the breakthrough, also dismissing the promising Mangaliso Mosehle for just a single.
That was to be the last success for the Chevrolet Warriors for some time. Kuhn was joined by van Jaarsveld, and the pair broke their own third-wicket record partnership for the Nashua Titans with a stand of 142 in 24 overs.
Jon-Jon Smuts was hit for six in his opening over by Van Jaarsveld, but saw the batsman dropped in the same over when still short of 30. Van Jaarsveld was to offer another chance later, but that second missed chance would not have made much difference.
Kuhn could not see matters to the end, nicking off to Walters on 86, made off 96 balls with 12 fours. Van Jaarsveld went on to yet another limited overs century, finishing the match off with four boundaries off seven balls.
He was undefeated on 109 off 104 balls, his superb innings including 16 fours and a six. He was the obvious choice for the Man of the Match award. While bonus points may be important come semifinal time, the Nashua Titans did not make enough of a charge to earn one.
Birch finished with two wickets, but it was another day to forget for the men from the Eastern Cape as their play-off hopes have now all but disappeared.