South Africa & Pakistan entered the Cup finals of the 2017 Hong Kong Sixes as they registered victories over New Zealand & Australia respectively in the semi-finals.
In the first semi-final, New Zealand locked horns against South Africa and were beaten comprehensively by 18 runs. South Africa batted first and posted a big total of 115/1 in their 5 overs. Sarel Erwee (35 off 10) & Farhaan Sayanwala (31 off 7) provided the perfect start to the proteas innings and Jerry Nqolo (27 n.o off 9) & Aubrey Swanepoel (15 n.o off 4) took the score past 100.
New Zealand innings was filled with wickets, retired-out’s at the wrong times and 2 notable contributions from Ronnie Hira (36 n.o off 11) & Shanan Stewart (31 off 7) meant the side could muster up only 97/3 in the 5 overs to lose the contest.
In the second semi-final, Pakistan went head-to-head against Australia and both the batters and bowlers came to the fore with Pakistan scoring a whopping 115/2 in their 5 overs and then restricting Australia to only 80/3 in the 5 overs to win the match by 35 runs.
Hammad Azam (36 off 9) & Sohail Tanveer (32 off 10) were the main contributors to the Pakistan total with Anwar Ali (18 n.o off 5) providing the good finish.
Australia lost Hastings and Short early to mount a serious challenge to the target. Reardon (30 off 9) & Alex Gregory (17 n.o off 4) did their best but the target was way too far for them to reach. Hammad Azam took all the momentum away in the 4th over giving only 3 runs and picked up a wicket. Tanveer & Sohail Khan also collected a wicket apiece.
South Africa & Pakistan will play the Cup finals after the Plate finals between Hong Kong & MCC.
