Province won the toss and invited the Free State to bat first at the iconic stadium in the shadows of Table Mountain.

The Knights got off to a start again with the bat, while in the middle overs, the runs dried up somewhat and a lack of any substantial partnerships saw them being restricted to 157/7 in their allotted 20 overs.

The allrounder Dian Forrester, who didn't play against the Titans or the Dolphins, top-scored for the visitors with 39 runs off 26 balls.

Aaron Phangiso and Beuran Hendricks. Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images

In turn, the big-hitting opening batter Jacques Snyman scored 28 while Lesego Senokwane scored 25. The Cape Town-born Seth Fledermaus, who was on debut scored 13 runs but seemed very comfortable out in the middle before being dismissed.

The captain and Proteas seamer, Beuran Hendricks, was the pick of the Western Province bowlers with 2/28, while Wesley Bedja took 2/34.

The run-chase was fairly tight until a couple of overs remaining with the wicketkeeper Daniel Smith scoring 57, while Eddie Moore scored 31 not out. Province managed to chase down the target in 18.5 overs for their third win of the campaign.

Dian Forrester. Photo: Morgan Piek

Fledermaus was the pick of the Knights bowlers with 2/32 in his three overs, while the captain Aaron Phangiso was once again the most economical with 0/24 in his four overs.

While the Knights were still in for a very good chance to reach the semi-finals as recently as Wednesday, they now face the prospect of finishing as the wooden-spooners following their back-to-back defeats. As it stands on Saturday morning they are in seventh, however, if the Dolphins beat Boland at Kingsmead in Durban, the Knights will finish the competition last.

Saturday’s other games will see the top-of-the-table clash between the North West Dragons and Lions at the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom, while at St George’s Park in Gqeberha, the Warriors will face the third placed Titans.

All of Saturday’s matches are scheduled to start at 14:00.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek dg