The Highveld Strikers ended the limited-overs portion of their season of discontent with another defeat, their seventh in 10 Standard Bank Cup outings, although they mounted a courageous attempt to reach a target that rain had seen revised to 220 off just 31 overs.

In the end, they needed three off the last ball and number 11 David Terbrugge was unable to beat the field, hitting it back to the bowler, Garth Roe, on the bounce, to leave the Strikers on 217 for nine, three short of their victory target.

The match was a meaningless one, with both sides long out of the semi-final frame, but turned out to be a thriller, with rain adding to the frenzied nature of the encounter. First it reduced the match to 41 overs a side before it had even started and then it shaved a further 10 overs off the visitor's innings by returning during the supper break, after the home side themselves had gone at more than six an over in setting a challenging 249 for nine.

Gary Outram, with an unbeaten 46 off just 32 balls, gave North West a flying finish after contributions down the order, including a swashbuckling 41 from Mark Lavine, whose West Indian counterpart, Ottis Gibson, was flayed for 67 off just seven overs.

Clive Eksteen, the only Strikers bowler to get a full nine overs, was all that stood between North West and an even higher score as he took three for 24.

It was a similar situation in the Strikers' knock, with occasional offspinner Craig Light, the one man to bowl seven overs, taking one for 24. The visitors' run-chase pivoted around one man, their find of the season, Marthinus Otto, who belted 70 off just 59 balls before perishing in the final run-in.

Eksteen could manage just six off 11 balls at a time when eight an over were needed, but Nicholas Mataboge, with 10 off six, and Sonnyboy Letshele, who finished unbeaten on 26 off 27 balls in only his second innings at this level, almost got the visitors home before the former was run out. But it was always going to be asking too much of Terbrugge to come in and hit a boundary off his only delivery.

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd