Ken Borland

Our DP World Lions Ladies attack consists of four spin bowlers who have all produced outstanding displays for the team, and on Sunday it was Sarah Nettleton’s chance to shine as she produced the best ever figures for the Central Gauteng side in T20 cricket.

Nettleton claimed incredible figures of five for 11 in her four overs as #ThePrideOfJozi skittled the Momentum Multiply Titans for just 101 at SuperSport Park, on their way to a bonus point win by nine wickets with 71 balls to spare in their HollywoodBets Pro20 Series derby.

New DP World Lions recruit Tazmin Brits tore into the Titans bowling to plunder a dazzling 55 not out off just 22 balls, with five fours and four sixes, as she raced the Pride to victory in the ninth over.

But it was the 21-year-old Nettleton who stole the spotlight, as she broke the record for best T20 figures for the Lions, improving on the five for 12 Yumna Plowker took against Free State in 2012/13.

Off-spinner Nettleton’s changes of pace and subtle variations in length, combined with her accuracy, proved way too much for the Titans batters, as the home side crashed from 30 without loss to 79 for seven, with fellow spinners Kgomotso Rapoo (4-0-22-1) and Raisibe Ntozakhe (2-0-13-1) each contributing a wicket as well.

The new-ball bowlers, Refilwe Moncho (3.3-0-15-2) and Relebohile Mkhize (4-0-18-1) then returned to wrap up the innings.

Nonkhululeko Thabethe (22 off 18) and Kirstie Thomson (22* off 10) then helped Brits put the Titans bowlers to the sword.

The DP World Lions’ other spinner, Jenna Evans, took a couple of wickets the previous day in the HollywoodBets Pro50 Series match, helping to bowl out the Titans for 231 in the 48^th over after the hosts had elected to bat first.

The leg-spin of Rapoo was even more effective, as the captain took three for 40 in 10 excellent overs, and a fifth spinner, Madison Landsman, took two for 33 in seven overs. Mkhize took two for 35 in 8.5 overs of tidy left-arm seam.

Our DP World Lions made a great start to their run-chase, openers Thabethe (35) and Brits, who scored a run-a-ball 40, putting on 83 in the first 17 overs.

The wicket of Brits, caught at long-off off the bowling of her Proteas team-mate Sune Luus, was obviously a key blow, the DP World Lions then slipping to 88 for three, but the experienced duo of Thomson (15) and Sunette Viljoen-Louw added 43 for the fourth wicket to put the Pride back on track.

But Thomson was then stumped charging a spinner, Rapoo was run out and the Lions lost three wickets for 10 runs as Evans was bowled by a delivery that ripped back into her and kept low.

The DP World Lions obviously still had hope while Viljoen-Louw was still there and she stuck it out until the 43^rd over, scoring a determined 46. But the veteran batter fell to a miraculous one-handed catch leaping on the cow-corner boundary, and the DP World Lions then slid to 175 all out and defeat by 56 runs as they suffered their first loss of the 50-over competition.

The energy levels of our DP World Lions men’s team are obviously high and they have had the benefit of a full week’s preparation ahead of their first outing in the defence of their CSA 4-Day Series title as they host the Momentum Multiply Titans from Tuesday.

Our Pride’s last outing saw them clinch the CSA T20 Challenge title in the most emphatic of fashion, hammeriing the self-same Titans in the final, having beaten their Gauteng derby rivals earlier in the week in Qualifier 1.

The Titans will now return to the DP World Wanderers Stadium bullring and Russell Domingo, #ThePrideOfJozi head coach, has warned that their neighbours will be hurting and keen for revenge.

But most of the DP World Lions squad named for the four-day opener played a major role in last season’s triumph, as well as being key members of the squad that won the CSA T20 Challenge last month, so there is plenty of confidence in our Pride’s camp.

“We played a warm-up game and we’ve had net sessions in the last week, so it has been good prep. There’s a good vibe in the squad and the energy levels are high. If you asked us what was the trophy we most want to win, it would be the red-ball one.

“It would have been a nightmare week if we had lost the final, but the Titans will bring a really good team and they will be hurting. There are never any easy games against them, but we are all up for the challenge,” Domingo said.

Connor Esterhuizen, who finished as the DP World Lions’ leading run-scorer in the triumphant T20 campaign, will again be wearing the wicketkeeper’s gloves with Wandile Makwetu still recovering from his broken finger.

The seasoned Josh Richards and the exciting young Mohammed Manack are set to open the batting, with the class of captain Dominic Hendricks and Zubayr Hamza to follow. Mitchell van Buuren will be the mainstay of the middle-order, while Delano Potgieter, the hero of last season’s four-day final, fills the all-rounder berth.

The exciting trio of Lutho Sipamla, whose demolition job on the Titans in the T20 final earned him a recall to the Proteas squad, Tshepo Moreki and Codi Yusuf will look after the pace bowling department, while Bjorn Fortuin and Junaid Dawood, the joint leading wicket-taker in the T20 competition, are the spin bowlers in the squad.

Khaya Fakude is the new face in the team, the DP World Lions Academy batsman having impressed the coaching staff with his ability and talent. The KES and University of Johannesburg representative hails from Kanyamazane near Nelspruit.

Proteas star Tazmin Brits will make her debut for the DP World Lions Ladies team this weekend as #ThePrideOfJozi look to continue their impressive start to the season in the Gauteng derby with the Fidelity Titans at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

Brits was signed from South-Western Districts by the DP World Lions in the off-season and is coming off an outstanding T20 World Cup, where she was the tournament’s second-leading run-scorer behind captain Laura Wolvaardt.

Apart from being a world-class opening batter, the 33-year-old Brits is also a prolific run-scorer at domestic level and her presence in our DP World Lions team could provide that little bit extra that takes our Pride from being runners-up in both the 50-over and T20 competitions last season, to champions.

So far this season, #ThePrideOfJozi have enjoyed two bonus point wins in the HollywoodBets Pro50 Series, while they have won one and lost one of their T20 games.

The batting has largely been led by the middle and lower-order, with the top-order getting starts but so far not converting. Brits and her enormous experience and ability could well change that.

“Now that the Proteas have been back for a while, Tazmin will be joining us and that will be good for our top-order,” coach Shaun Pretorius said. “Hopefully they will now fire. They’ve had a bit of a slump, but we support them and we know they are motivated to build a way through this passage of form.

“The middle and lower-order have been really good, but imagine the freedom they could play with with a good foundation up top. We just need to make sure we take care of that phase, get through the first 10 overs and not allow any soft dismissals. The number of wickets we’re losing is a bit concerning,” Pretorius said.

A Jukskei Derby is always a massive match for DP World Lions Cricket and Pretorius said the Ladies camp is buzzing ahead of their visit to SuperSport Park, especially since the men’s team beat the Titans twice last week to win the CSA T20 Challenge.

“I’m a bit of a nervous man,” Pretorius chuckled, “because the men have set the tone with two wins of note against the Titans. They will also have Proteas back and we don’t look down on teams who are losing, especially if they’re at the bottom because then they will be very hungry and you never know when they will click.

“For us, it’s very important we make sure we execute properly and win the different phases of the game. We’ve had good execution of our plans so far and I’m definitely happy with our performances, but there are still areas for us to improve on, especially in the T20,” Pretorius said.

The Titans are currently situated in fourth place on the Pro50 table and are fifth in the T20 standings. So, playing at home, they will be desperate to turn things around against their arch-rivals.

Our DP World Lions will be without SA U19 stars Fay Cowling, Karabo Meso and Diara Ramlakan, who are currently in Pretoria excelling against the Irish U19s, for Saturday’s 50-over match, but Pretorius will see where they are in terms of energy levels for Sunday’s HollywoodBets Pro20 Series game.

In the old days, many metres of newsprint would have been used to try and answer the question of why the Joburg Super Kings, despite finishing in the top four of all four editions of the SA20, have not yet been able to proceed to the final.

These days, the post-mortems will mostly be done in digital form, computer codes leading to text on some kind of screen.

The Joburg Super Kings’ 2026 campaign came to an end at SuperSport Park on Thursday night as they were well beaten by 36 runs by the Paarl Royals in the SA20 Eliminator. Once again they had fallen short and coach Stephen Fleming, at the helm for all four tournaments, admitted to an “empty feeling”.

Having won the toss and sent Paarl Royals in to bat, but allowing them to post a fine total of 210 for five, and then slumping to 103 for six in reply, it is not that difficult to pinpoint where this season’s push for the final was derailed.

Especially when one considers the Super Kings went into their last fixture without their regular captain, Faf du Plessis, and experienced stars like Rilee Rossouw, Reece Topley and Donovan Ferreira. Injuries and the comings-and-goings of players meant 17 different people took the field for them during the season, so they never really became a settled outfit.

“We’ve had players down, and experienced ones at that, which meant there were guys who had to play at a level they have never been at before and it was asking a lot of them to rise to the challenge. They didn’t respond tonight, but I’m proud of the way they stepped up in Paarl to get into the playoffs,” Fleming said after the loss.

Even though they conceded 210 for five, Joburg Super Kings were by no means out of the contest at the midway point.

It was a fine effort by Paarl Royals, but a curious innings because even though such a big score in a knockout match is always daunting, one felt the Boland side had left a few runs on the table.

Lhuan-dre Pretorius was the top-scorer with a commanding 51 off 34 balls, but he did not seem to have hit top gear yet, seemingly setting his stall to bat deep, when he ran himself out (helped by an excellent piece of out-fielding by Matthew de Villiers) in the 11^th over.

There were four other very useful contributions in the Paarl innings: Kyle Verreynne lashed 30 off 15 balls at the start to ensure they had a brilliant powerplay, scoring 61 for one in the first six overs; Dan Lawrence kept the momentum going and had set up a big finish with his 36 off 23 deliveries; and Sikandar Raza (35 off 19) and Asa Tribe (30 not out off 16 balls) provided the big finish with 62 runs scored off the last five overs.

But when the SuperSport Park pitch is as true and well-paced as it was on Thursday, no total is safe if a batter gets in, stays in and goes deep; if one of the Super Kings could score a quickfire 80 and the rest bat around him, then 211 was certainly not out of reach.

But the brilliant Royals attack, led by Hardus Viljoen (4-0-24-3), gobbled up four wickets in the powerplay and some patrons had not yet finished their dinner when the result became fait accompli with the dismissal of Dian Forrester for just three leaving JSK on 103 for six after 13 overs, needing 108 runs off the last seven overs.

Wiaan Mulder deserves credit for showing plenty of fight as he stuck around for three-quarters of an hour to score 41 off 27 balls, while tailenders Duan Jansen (18* off 12) and Nandre Burger (17* off 11) helped themselves to 36 unbeaten runs off the last 23 deliveries.

But shorn of too many inspirational players, there was to be no miracle for Joburg Super Kings.