Ken Borland

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.