Province, who slipped into the playoffs through the backdoor, stunned the much more fancied and in-form Dragons with 41 runs at the Wanderers in the Eliminator.

The team from Cape Town had a bat first and scored 166/5 in their allotted 20 overs with the all-rounder, George Linde, smashing 49 off 23 in a knock that included 1 four and 5 sixes. Mihlali Mpongwana, in turn, scored 24, while the wicketkeeper, Daniel Smith, scored 18. The Dragons bowlers also conceded 18 extras.

Gideon Peters took 3/24 with the ball for the Dragons.

Wihan Lubbe. Photo: Dragons

In reply, the Dragons lost the early wickets of Janneman Malan and Tahir Isaacs for two runs each.

The captain, Wihan Lubbe, scored 46 off 20 and Meeka-eel Prince scored 25 to put the Dragons in a commanding position with the bat. However, Prince lost his wicket with the score on 77 in the 8th over, and three runs later Lubbe was run out. The wicket of Lubbe was the swing in the match and a collapse in the middle order led to the Dragons being bowled out for just 125 runs in 15.3 overs.

Daniel Smith. Photo: Dragons

Kyle Simmonds took 3/14 and Linde took 3/15 for Province, while the captain, Beuran Hendricks, in turn, took 2/9 in his two overs.

On Tuesday night, the defending champions, the Lions beat the Titans by 7 wickets at the Wanderers to book a home final. The Titans get another crack at reaching the final by hosting the second qualifier on Friday in Centurion.

Friday night’s second qualifier between the Titans and Province at SuperSport Park gets underway at 18:00. The winner will face the Lions at the Wanderers on Sunday in the final.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cg