Muthusamy's 93 leads Warriors to 278 for eight against NW Dragons

A magnificent, counter-attacking 93 from captain Senuran Muthusamy helped the Dafabet Warriors post a more-then-respectable total of 278 for eight after being asked to bat first in their CSA One-Day Cup match against the Renault North West Dragons at the North-West University No 1 ground in Potchefstroom on Wednesday.

The visitors initially struggled against disciplined bowling on a two-paced pitch, limping to 87 for five just over the halfway point of the innings with Jordan Hermann anchoring the innings with 35 from 61 balls, but their struggles were exemplified by Patrick Kruger’s crawl to 14 from 41 balls.

Muthusamy was having none of it and, however, and tore into the bowling as though he was batting on a different pitch, striking six fours and three sixes in his brilliant innings which came from just 82 balls.

Muthusamy found a willing and capable ally in Andile Mogakane, who followed his captain’s example with a punchy 58 from 62 balls with seven fours and a pair of sixes during a potentially match-changing sixth-wicket partnership of 143 in just 20 overs.

Kerwin Mungroo was tremendous at both ends of the innings to finish with 3-33 from his 10 overs and allrounder Ruan de Swart claimed 2-52, but Duan Jansen (8-0-68-1) suffered during Muthusamy’s and Matthew Kleinveldt’s two overs of off-spin (2-0-20-0), a gamble which did not pay off.

The Dragons currently occupy third place on the log - the final knockout berth – with two wins and eight points from their three matches while the Warriors are just outside the top three places, one point behind the Dragons with seven points from three matches.

NW DRAGONS: Janneman Malan, Rubin Hermann, Taheer Isaacs (wkt), Matthew Kleinveldt, Wihan Lubbs (captain), Lesiba Ngoepe, Ruan de Swardt, Duan Jansen, Caleb Seleka, Kerwin Mungroo, Lutendo Tsanwani .

WARRIORS: Jordan Hermann, Jean du Plessis (wkt), Matthew Breetzke, Sinethemba Qeshile, Patrick Kruger, Senuran Muthusamy (captain), Andile Mogakane, Beyers Swanepoel, CJ King, Jason Raubenheimer, Alfred Mothoa.