Yaseen Valli batted through the innings to enable the Division 2 Six Gun Grill SWD to upstage the Division 1 Six Gun Grill Western Province by three wickets with two balls to spare in a nail-biter start to Day Two of the CSA Provincial T20 Knock Out Competition here on Saturday.

Having restricted Western Province to a below-par total of 130/7 all SWD needed was a couple of good partnerships and some calm heads to get them across the line and that is exactly what the left-handed Valli accomplished. His unbeaten 55 (54 balls, 6 fours and 1 six) was his second half-century in a row and made him the leading run-scorer in the tournament.

The result isn’t sufficient at this stage to qualify his team for the knock-out phase as there is still the possibility of three teams finishing tied on 8 points. The position will become clearer after this afternoon’s match between the Imperial Lions and the Northern Cape Heat.

Western Province won the toss in the battle of the two unbeaten sides from the first round but were given a rude awakening by SWD when Renaldo Meyer dismissed the first-day centurion, Zubayr Hamza, to the third ball of the match. Worse was to follow when their other Proteas top-order batsman, Kyle Verreynne, perished in the next over bowled by Herschell America.

The innings became a struggle thereafter on a pitch with a lower and slower bounce from the previous day as they were restricted to 30/2 in the power play and then crumbled to 50/5 after 10 with off-spinner Pheko Moletsane chiming in with two wickets in an over.

Kyle Simmonds (46 not out off 32 balls, 3 fours and 2 sixes) and Aviwe Mgijima (35 off 35 balls, 1 four) pulled the innings together with a sixth-wicket stand of 67 in 9 overs but it was only in the 17th over that they managed to achieve a run rate of 6 to the over.

The final total of 130/7 looked short of par.

America finished with an outstanding 3/22 in 4 to become the leading wicket-taker in the tournament.

Western Province matched the start SWD had made with the ball when Beuran Hendricks dismissed Blayde Capell to the third ball of the innings and Wayne Parnell then got rid of key batsman Jean du Plessis.

Valli and Andre Malan then stabilised the innings, taking SWD to 38/2 at the end of the power play and getting their team up to the required run rate which they managed to maintain to the end of the match.

Valli watched as partners came and went but they nearly all reached double figures which was enough to get their side over the line.

Hendricks (1/18 in 4, including 12 dot balls in his new-ball spell of 3 overs) was the standout bowler for Western Province but they were left in such a tight finish to rue mistakes in the field that saw two boundaries given away in the power play through clumsy fielding and a couple of run-out chances go astray as well.