Cape Town - The Malan brothers – Pieter, Andre and Janneman – claimed their place in the annals of the game this past weekend when they all scored first-class centuries on the same day of the same match in the latest round of Sunfoil Cup Provincial three-day matches.
Eldest brother Pieter turned out for Western Province while his two siblings were in the North West line-up, a match that the latter won by seven wickets off the second last possible ball to maintain their unbeaten run in Pool A of the competition. Fittingly this match was played at historic PPC Newlands.
In spite of this setback Western Province maintain a healthy lead in Pool A although North West have a game in hand and Northerns have two. Western Province only lost 8 wickets in the match which was a disappointing end to the career of the home captain, SA Engelbrecht, who is retiring to enter the world of commerce.
Nevertheless, from an individual viewpoint, he could be well satisfied with his contribution of 166 (203 balls, 29 fours) to the Western Province first innings. He also shared the best sixth wicket partnership in the competition this season with his stand of 143 with Kyle Verrynne.
Pieter Malan scored 117 not out (185 balls, 15 fours and a six) in the Western Province second innings but Janneman Malan (135 off 158 balls, 16 fours and 2 sixes) and Andre Malan (103 not out, 106 balls, 7 fours and 2 sixes) made short work of the chase. Strangely, Pieter and Andre both scored ducks in the first innings.
The Malan family have now scored 6 first-class centuries between them this season with Pieter being the leading runs scorer in the competition to date (606 runs at an average of 202 with 3 centuries).
Runs were in plentiful supply over the weekend with Yaseen Valli (144) and Devon Conway (175*) putting on a season’s best 303 for the second wicket for Gauteng in their 95-run victory over Namibia, while Mkhululi Calana of Border made his maiden first-class century (106 off 186 balls, 14 fours and 2 sixes) and followed it up with 44 in the second.
Despite his efforts, Border lost to KZN by 6 wickets. There were other wins for KZN Inland who beat Northern Cape in two days by an innings and 33 runs and for Eastern Province who beat Boland by 10 wickets. In this latter match Anrich Nortje and Tladi Bokoko took 14 wickets between them.
Nortje also made 61* in his only turn at bat to complete an excellent all-round performance. Michael Price (116 off 171, 11 fours, 2 sixes) was the final centurion of the weekend. In the CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge, Northern Cape beat KZN Inland by seven wickets in spite of a Divan van Wyk century to remain top of Pool A, Namibia beat Gauteng, also by 7 wickets, to remain top of Pool B, Boland beat Eastern Province by 22 runs, North West beat Western Province by 70 runs in spite of an Andrew Puttick century, and KZN beat Border by 110 runs.