Lions advance lead at top of log 0
The DP World Lions advanced their lead at the top of the CSA 4-Day Series standings to more than 30 points on Saturday as they hammered the Dafabet Warriors by 200 runs in Johannesburg,sealing victory on the third day.
Having bundled the Warriors out for just 94 in the morning session on the second day, giving them a first-innings lead of 197, #ThePrideOfJozi then declared their second innings on theirovernight score of 214 for eight.
That set the Warriors a target of 412 for victory, a daunting score that has never been chased down before in the fourth innings of a CSA 4-Day Series match at the DP World WanderersStadium.
Despite the magnitude of the challenge, the Warriors set off rapidly in their second innings, racing to 121 for two in 17 overs. But the DP World Lions showed their tenacity by fightingback and they had Eastern Province 151 for four at lunch, youngster Kwena Maphaka having taken two of the wickets as he removed both openers.
A superb yorker bowled Diego Rosier for 8 and 10 minutes before the break, the left-arm fast bowler claimed the key wicket as he had Jordan Hermann caught behind off a superb delivery,the left-hander having blasted 67 off 71 balls.
Less than 25 overs later, the Warriors were all out for 211, with Lutho Sipamla wrapping up the lower-order with four for 42. He also produced brilliant deliveries to bowl Andile Mogakane(1) and Sinethemba Qeshile (40).
The 23.82 bonus points earned from the match will sit nicely under the DP World Lions’ Christmas tree because this is their last four-day match until March. That takes their tally to83.96, with their nearest challengers, the Knights and Titans, both below 50 points in the standings.
The home side had won the toss and elected to bat first, and evergreen captain Dominic Hendricks once again held the batting together on the first day, scoring a defiant 89 as he wentpast 300 runs for the season.
But when Hendricks fell in the final session, trapped lbw by the impressive swing bowling of Beyers Swanepoel, the Warriors had felled five of the DP World Lions batsmen with just 167on the board.
But that brought the combative Bjorn Fortuin to the crease and he struck a crucial 50 as he decorated his 59 balls faced with nine fours. Codi Yusuf once again stood tall with the batin the lower-order, scoring 30 as he and Fortuin added 65 for the seventh wicket.
The DP World Lions were bowled out for 291 in the last over of the first day and the second morning gifted their bowlers helpful conditions for seam bowing.
Yusuf (5-1-11-2) had Jordan Hermann smartly taken by Delano Potgieter at short square-leg off the first ball of the innings, and then trapped Proteas batsman Matthew Breetzke (4) lbwin his second over.
Meanwhile, Maphaka showed the class that has many talking about his hereditary line from #ThePrideOfJozi’s legendary fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, as he had Diego Rosier (4) edging a lifterbehind and then trapped Matthew de Villiers lbw first ball with a searing inswinging yorker.
The Warriors were nine for four and the tumble of wickets spread like a disease as Sipamla and Tshepo Moreki (6.3-3-17-3) chipped in to send the visitors crashing to 41 for six insidethe first hour.
Moreki’s pace and venom is often underestimated and he forced Swanepoel to retire hurt on 21 after hitting him in the head with a lifter. The Warriors’ key all-rounder, who took fivewickets in the first innings, could take no further part in the match due to the concussion he suffered.
Maphaka (7-1-24-3) returned to claim his third wicket, resulting in the Warriors being bowled out for their second-lowest total ever against the DP World Lions.
The clatter of wickets took a breather when #ThePrideOfJozi came out to bat in their second innings, with Josh Richards (44) and Mohamed Manack (49) taking them to 100 for two at tea.
The DP World Lions suffered a sporadic loss of wickets through the final session, but the batsmen had done more than enough to give the defending champions an unassailable lead.
The infectious enthusiasm of the bowling attack, despite a rough start, then finished off a job very well done on the third day.