Ken Borland

An investment in the playing depth of our DP World Lions men’s team paid off at the weekend with the successful defence of the CSA T20 Challenge title, with head coach Russell Domingo expressing his delight with how the newer faces in the team performed.

The DP World Lions clinched the crown with a commanding eight-wicket win with 29 balls to spare over the Momentum Multiply Titans, a triumphant conclusion to a campaign in which #ThePrideOfJozi played nine matches and won seven of them. The champions used 17 players in the competition, with Connor Esterhuizen, Evan Jones, Delano Potgieter and Mitchell van Buuren the only players to appear in all nine games.

Last season’s triumph was played over a double-round of fixtures and 18 players were used by Domingo. Proteas stars like Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen, Wiaan Mulder, Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma and Bjorn Fortuin were able to play just about every match.

With this season’s CSA T20 Challenge happening at the start of the season, as opposed to the end of the 2023/24 campaign, our DP World Lions had to dig a bit deeper into their resources.

Rickelton, Hendricks, Van der Dussen and Mulder all scored more than 200 runs last season; this season it was Esterhuizen leading the way with 199, closely followed by Hendricks and Van der Dussen, who played 10 games between them. Wandile Makwetu was the other chief run-getter.

Nqaba Peter was the leading wicket-taker last season with 20 scalps in 10 games, earning him a deserved call-up to the Proteas team, which meant he could only play five matches this campaign. Bjorn Fortuin (18), Codi Yusuf (16) and Lutho Sipamla (14) were the other main wicket-takers in 2023/24.

This season our Pride contributed the two leading wicket-takers in the entire competition, Junaid Dawood and Kwena Maphaka both taking 13 wickets, while Sipamla and Evan Jones contributed 16 scalps between them.

“Every trophy is special but to defend the title with largely a different team feels very special indeed,” Domingo said. “Having a lot of Proteas away gave opportunity to other players and I am very pleased that  they put their hands up. Junaid and Kwena were leading wicket-takers, I thought Mitch did a great job as captain before Bjorn returned, and Connor and Wandile gave very good performances.

“We make sure we learn every day, whether we win or lose. The Titans gave us a hiding in the first game, but that was a wake-up call to make sure we weren’t complacent. This is a tough competition, the boys needed to step up and they did,” Domingo said.

While Domingo’s intention had been to rotate seamers Sipamla, Yusuf and Tshepo Moreki through the season, Sipamla took his opportunity at the end of the tournament to write himself into the history books, his figures of four for 12 at the DP World Wanderers Stadium at the weekend being the best ever in a CSA T20 Challenge final.

“It was a really big performance from Lutho, he’s had a lot of injuries and missed a lot of last season. I wanted all the seamers to play five games, but Lutho has done really well at the back end. He works extremely hard and it was a fantastic spell,” Domingo said.

“We didn’t want to bowl too full on that pitch, we wanted to hit hard lengths and the bowling was as good as we could have hoped for. We spoke long and hard before the final about tactics.

“I’m a bit old-fashioned in that I like to have wickets in hand, be more circumspect up front, especially at the DP World Wanderers where the ball does a bit. A lot of people think the first six overs are the most important, but I think the last six are.

“Aiming for around 40 in the powerplay has served us well. We might have to do it differently next season, but with this group of players it was the right formula. We also worked hard on batting well in the middle overs, running the ones and twos, being smart, and we also had to cut down on the extras in the field,” the delighted Domingo said.

Duan Jansen continues to thrive on the pacy and bouncy SuperSport Park pitch as he took a superb four for 23 on Saturday to bowl his new SA20 franchise, the Joburg Super Kings, to a 22-run victory over the Pretoria Capitals in game two of Season 4 of the T20 extravaganza.

Having moved from the Dragons in Potchefstroom to play for the Titans, Jansen has been their best bowler in a troubled season, and he brought the same form to the neighbouring franchise, taking wickets in his second, third and fourth overs to destroy a good Pretoria Capitals foundation and achieve his best-ever figures in T20 cricket.

After winning the toss, the Capitals had bowled well to limit the Joburg Super Kings to 168 for six and then looked set to romp to victory as openers Will Smeed (34 off 30) and Bryce Parsons (41 off 30) put on 71 for the first wicket in nine overs.

The Super Kings turned to spin to make the breakthrough, accurate orthodox left-armer Akeal Hosein (3-0-19-1) bowling Smeed after deceiving him in the flight, but then they turned to their two extremely tall fast bowlers, Jansen and Janco Smit, both of whom play their domestic cricket for the Titans, based at SuperSport Park.

Prolific West Indian Shai Hope (2 off 6) tried to drive Jansen on the up, an extremely difficult thing to do on bouncy pitches, and was predictably caught at mid-on. Dewald Brevis then came in wanting to express himself and struck a boundary off his first ball, but Smit then had him caught behind for six, gloving a hook at a short-pitched delivery.

Jansen then quickly killed off the Pretoria Capitals chase as he added the wickets of Parsons, Connor Esterhuizen (2) and Daniel Smith (9), the latter two both bowled.

From 71 for none, the Capitals crashed to 89 for five and in the end limped to 146 for nine in their 20 overs to at least deny the Super Kings a bonus point.

Wiaan Mulder also did a fine job with his medium-pace (4-0-22-1) and Richard Gleeson (4-0-33-2) wrapped things up with two wickets.

Faf du Plessis, now 41 years old, had confidently taken first strike after his Super Kings had been sent in to bat, but he was unceremoniously put on his backside by the second delivery, Tymal Mills jagging a short lifter back into him and striking him on the gloves and arm.

Jansen went on to say that although they did not like to see their captain treated like that, it left the Joburg pace quartet licking their lips.

“Watching from the side, we loved that second ball Tymal Mills bowled to Faf. Although we were sorry for him, we were also definitely smiling as a bowling unit because we could see there was assistance for us – bounce, swing and pace.

“We knew that even if Pretoria got a good start, we just needed to get the first wicket and then you can get two or three more on the bounce. That changed the whole momentum of the innings and we knew we just needed to be patient and calm.

“It’s a big advantage for me and Janco, who I thought bowled well too, to be playing our first game here at Centurion. My season has been good so far and knowing the conditions settled my nerves playing for a new franchise,” Jansen said.

Joburg were in early trouble as openers Matthew de Villiers (13 off 10) and Du Plessis (2 off 8) both fell with the score on 16 within five balls of each other. But Rilee Rossouw (48 off 33) and Mulder (44 off 28) added 78 for the third wicket in the next nine overs, doing a great job of ensuring the visitors had a competitive score.

Hosein’s 22 not out off 10 balls at the death, with two sixes, took the total to 168 for six.

“The pitch was a bit tricky and spicy, but the maturity Rilee and Wiaan showed to just hang in there and build a partnership was the reason we got a decent total. We felt we probably left ourselves 15 runs light considering how they batted. That partnership was key, and then with the ball we fought and worked hard for a scrappy win,” Du Plessis said.

Left-armer Mills was superb as he dismissed De Villiers and Rossouw to have two for six in three overs, before conceding 10 runs in the last over of the innings; and his new-ball partner Codi Yusuf supported him very well with two for 29 in his four overs.

Pretoria Capitals only had three frontline pacemen, however, and Lungi Ngidi went wicketless and conceded 43 runs, but probably bowled a little better than those figures suggest.

But the other three members of the home attack were all spinners, at a venue notoriously difficult for spin bowlers. While captain Keshav Maharaj (4-0-31-0) bowled well, Roston Chase and Parsons conceded 46 runs in their combined four overs.

Parsons at least picked up the wickets of Mulder and Donavan Ferreira (9), but Pretoria Capitals would have been better off choosing another pace bowling option. Andre Russell would be the obvious candidate, but he hasn’t arrived yet from the International League T20 in the UAE.

Our DP World Lions ensured that winning trophies is not just a once-off occurrence as #ThePrideOfJozi claimed their third successive title when they won the CSA T20 Challenge final in commanding fashion on Sunday, hammering the Momentum Multiply Titans by eight wickets with 29 balls to spare.

It ensured our Pride hung on to the CSA T20 Challenge trophy they won in April, which came after the CSA 4-Day Series triumph in February, making it three successive tournaments won by head coach Russell Domingo and his charges.

It was also the second convincing victory over the Titans at the DP World Wanderers Stadium in the space of a week, making up for the heavy defeat the Pride suffered against their Gauteng neighbours in the opening match of the campaign.

On Sunday the Titans once again elected to bat first and once the DP World Lions new-ball bowlers had bowled superbly in the powerplay to reduce the visitors to 34 for three in the first six overs, there was no stopping #ThePrideOfJozi.

Delano Potgieter and the freakish young talent that is Kwena Maphaka both struck once with the new ball and then Lutho Sipamla produced the spell of a lifetime.

The paceman produced an astonishing burst of four for seven in his first three overs, including the massive wickets of the Titans’ two most dangerous batsmen, Heinrich Klaasen and Donovan Ferreira.

Sipamla’s brilliantly consistent lengths proved the undoing of a Titans batting line-up that went hard on a pitch that certainly provided a bit of nibble for the bowlers.

Sibonelo Makhanya (4) was the first to try and hit Sipamla off his length and fail, hitting the ball to a straight midwicket. Rivaldo Moonsamy was then caught behind in Sipamla’s next over and, with the following delivery, the Proteas representative bowled Ferreira for a duck, snaking a delivery back into the flatfooted batsman.

Klaasen had just hit a six and was an obvious threat as he reached 13 not out off 12 balls, but Sipamla produced a fantastic delivery that just nipped away to find the edge and the T20 superstar was also caught behind by Connor Esterhuizen.

Sipamla finished with four for 12 in his four overs, the best ever figures in a CSA T20 Challenge final.

“It’s very special and I’m very grateful to God after a tough time with injuries last year. It’s nice to see my hard work getting results. I don’t try to think too much beyond my processes and being my best whether at practice or in the game,” Sipamla said after the impressive triumph.

“The top of off-stump is always very effective and [bowling coach] Allan Donald always pushes for that. Hitting the top of off is probably your best ball, especially on pitches like that and it’s all about execution. I just try to be in the moment and the rest will take care of itself,” Sipamla said.

Maphaka finished with two for 15 in another hugely impressive four-over stint, while captain Bjorn Fortuin took two for 10 in three overs as the Titans were bundled out for just 119.

The DP World Lions were in some early bother in their reply, slipping to 26 for two in five overs, but they were much more in tune with the conditions and batted with calculated precision to chase down their target in 15.1 overs.

In Rassie van der Dussen they had the perfect man to steer them home as he scored 44 not out off 31 deliveries with seven fours and a six. He showed his class and composure after coming to the wicket in the third over.

Esterhuizen, who has made his home superbly well batting in the middle-order, played some great strikes through the covers, collecting six fours and a six, but also gathering the important ones and twos to keep the scoreboard moving. Esterhuizen finished the match in style by pulling fast bowler Gerald Coetzee for a massive six, out of the ground and into the flats beyond the eastern stand.

The 23-year-old finished on 48 not out off 36 balls, putting on an unbeaten 98 for the third wicket with Van der Dussen, off 68 deliveries.

When former Knights pace bowler Dillon du Preez took over as the interim coach of the Proteas women’s team, he felt like he had a mountain to climb. Now that he has scaled that peak by leading the side to the T20 World Cup final, the flats, much like the terrain around his Free State home, surely now lie ahead?

But Du Preez himself is not sure he wants to continue as the head coach. This is despite the obvious rapport he has built up with the team – starting in September 2020 as an assistant – and his fellow management team at the World Cup.

Replacing Hilton Moreeng, who stepped down as head coach in May after 11 years at the helm, has proven problematic for Cricket South Africa. Finding a suitable candidate with a Level IV coaching certificate (which Du Preez has) has been the stumbling block.

The 42-year-old Du Preez wonders whether he has enough experience for such a key role, having only been coaching for two tears when Moreeng hand-picked him as his bowling consultant in 2020. Firm friends off the field from their playing days, they led South Africa to the T20 World Cup final on home soil in 2023, losing to Australia.

“It’s been difficult for me,” Du Preez told Rapport when the team returned to a heroines’ welcome in Johannesburg this week. “Doing things like handling the media has been fairly new to me and I do wonder whether I’m the right person to continue. The cornerstones are there, you have to learn how to get past semi-finals and we have done that, and now we are one step away from winning finals.

“But we are on our way. The one thing I question though is do the team need more from their head coach? I will be taking a few days off now and then I will sit down with Enoch Nkwe [director of cricket] and we will discuss everything,” Du Preez said.

He also praised his two assistants, Paul Adams (bowling) and Baakier Abrahams (batting), for their valuable input that has certainly added value to the team.

“They have been very valuable, you can see that in the huddle, which Paul runs. He brings such focus and calmness, he’s been around so when he speaks, people listen.

“And Baakier has been a coach for a while. He has got buy-in from the players and they all know their scoring areas now,” Du Preez said.

Even though the Proteas fell at the final hurdle, losing to New Zealand by 32 runs in the T20 World Cup final in Dubai, they were highly impressive in the daring cricket they played, and their upset victory in the semi-finals over six-time champions Australia was one of the most complete all-round performances in South African cricket history.

“I’m very proud of the ladies. We had a discussion after the final and we told them all the positives that came out of the World Cup, but we also said nothing we say is going to make you feel better.

“But you have to take the positives out: making back-to-back finals in very different conditions and there were lots of individual accolades too. We were outplayed in the final and in hindsight there were things we could have done differently.

“I think our confidence started to grow after the India series, there were a few areas we identified, and some tools we gave the players in two skills camps we had, in which Paul and Baakier were heavily involved.

“Then we went to Pakistan and we could see from game one that things were starting to fall into place. Especially in terms of more aggressive batting, for which we got buy-in from the players.

“So real belief was there when we went to the World Cup, even though conditions were incredibly tough – the heart rates went up to 140-160 just standing still in the heat, so we had to have lots of water breaks.”