SAWCA - Northerns and Gauteng keep their hopes alive.

Paarl: No big surprises on day three of the SAWCA Inter Provincial being played in the Boland region where Gauteng and Northerns have proved to be the two strongest teams in the competition. They are yet to meet with the winner of that match potentially going on to take the trophy off Western Province.

The holders Western Province were convincingly beaten in a one sided match where Gauteng ran away with a ten wicket win. K Laing 63* and D Terblanche 52* the main contributors as Gauteng passed the 130/9 set by Province without the loss of a wicket.

Northerns having to bat down to number nine against Easterns, thanks to a 4/44 by K Momberg, relied on their bowlers and in particular on L de Beer (4/26) to secure a 72 run win and keep their unbeaten record. For Northerns, A Burger stroked a delightful 53 before Momberg put a hole in the middle order.

North West kept their hopes alive with a seven wicket win over out of form Free State. Elize Kruger ending on an undefeated 34 for North West in this low scoring encounter.

Boland encouraged by a 61 from R Pienaar ended the Western Province Invitation XI unbeaten record with a three wicket win.

KwaZulu-Natal also ended the Eastern Province run of victories recording a close two wickets win thanks to a 57 from P Payne and a four wicket haul from S Jewel. For Eastern Province S Pillay again shone with the bat scoring 41 not out and then picking up 3 crucial wickets but it was just not enough in the end.

Border recorded their first win of the tournaments with a 155 run victory against Griqualand West. Batting first the Border team amassed 260 in their 50 overs thanks to a 48 from W Croucamp, a 32 from N Ndzundzu and 63 extras from the Griqualand bowlers. Ndzundzu then ripped the heart out of the Griqua's middle order ending with 4/10.

Results:

Northerns (177/9) beat Easterns (105) by 72 runs.
Gauteng (142/0) beat Western Province (130/9) by 10 wickets.
North West (111/3) beats Free State (110) by seven wickets.
Border (260) beat Griqualand West (105) by 155 runs.
Boland (114/7) beat Western Province `B' (110/7) by three wickets.
KwaZulu-Natal (154/8) beat Eastern Province (153) by two wickets.