Warriors beat Wayamba by 7 wickets

Port Elizabeth:

A dream start for South African franchises in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament continued on Saturday as Eastern Cape Warriors defeated Wayamba Elevens by seven wickets.

South African President Jacob Zuma and Spanish singing megastar Enrique Iglesias were among those who witnessed star-less Highveld Lions shock the Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai Indians in the opening match on Friday.

After the Sri Lankans won the toss and made 153-9, the Warriors recovered from the early loss of opener Ashwell Prince at St George's Park to take control with 37-year-old wicketkeeper Mark Boucher (40 not out) top scorer.

The end came after 18.2 overs when the South Africans reached 156-3 with Justin Kreusch (37 not out), Colin Ingram (34) and skipper Davy Jacobs (26) contributing valuable knocks.

Sole Sri Lankan challengers Wayamba did well to reach their target after a disastrous start which saw them end the first over with two runs on the board and two wickets down.

Legend Mahela Jayawardene was first to bite the dust in ideal mid-afternoon conditions, sending a thick edge off the bowling of Juan 'Rusty' Theron to second slip Kreusch.

In came Mahela Udawatte and four balls later he was heading back to the pavilion with Theron once more the tormentor, watching his delivery translate into a top edge snapped up by Nicky Boje at mid-on.

Wayamba needed runs and stability and opener Jeevantha Kulatunga (59) and middle-order Kusal Janith Perera (39) proved equal to the task, but there were no other takers and wickets fell at regular intervals.

Theron finished with 3-23 from his four overs, former South Africa star Makhaya Ntini sent Perera packing as he captured two wickets from consecutive balls and Lonwabo Tsotsobe terminated the stay of Kulatunga.

Needing 7.70 runs per over to triumph, Warriors brushed aside the early loss of Prince (10), were always ahead of the rate and found themselves in the envious position of needing just 33 runs from the last six overs.