Ken Borland

T20 cricket is renown for spectacular catches, but our DP World Lions men’s team were nevertheless exceptional in the field, taking some truly hectic grabs, during their 47-run win over the Free State Knights in their CSA T20 Challenge match in Bloemfontein in midweek.

Electing to bat first, our DP World Lions cobbled together 142 for seven, thanks to an all-round batting effort led by Wandile Makwetu (40 off 34 balls) and captain Mitchell van Buuren (32 off 22). It was a decent score in the conditions, but not an unbeatable one.

The Knights had taken some superb catches in the field, but #ThePrideOfJozi raised the bar even higher as the fielders backed up a clinical bowling effort with some magnificent takes.

There were three stunning catches inside the powerplay as our DP World Lions reduced the Knights to 24 for five after six overs.

Dangerman Rilee Rossouw was removed for just 6 as Connor Esterhuizen dived full length at cover to intercept a fierce blow off Tshepo Moreki in spectacular fashion. Delano Potgieter then took a brilliant running catch at third man to dismiss Garnett Tarr for a duck off Evan Jones, who three balls later snaffled an outstanding return catch, lunging forward and to his left, to get rid of Dian Forrester, also for a duck.

Former Protea Gihahn Cloete was digging in for the Knights, but Josh Richards rushed in from point and scored a direct hit from side-on to run him out for 17. Jones also effected an impressive run out with a massive throw from deep cover, athletically taken by wicketkeeper Makwetu, to remove Free State captain Dane Piedt (2).

It was Makwetu who then capped the outstanding fielding display and wrapped up the innings with a marvellous low, one-handed catch diving to his left to dismiss Malusi Siboto (1) off Liutho Sipamla, the home side being bundled out for 95 inside 18 overs, earning the DP World Lions a bonus point win.

“It was really cool to see that standard of fielding,” head coach Russell Domingo said. “Jimmy Kgamadi has worked really hard on the team’s fielding and he deserves a lot of the credit. His coaching is showing rewards because the guys have bought into the intensity. There’s been a big improvement because fielding was not our strength last season.

“The players understand how fortunate they are to have this opportunity to play with our big players away, and it’s a really good environment in the squad at the moment. They’re really embracing our mantra of enthusiasm and intensity,” Domingo said.

While the coaching staff are loving the efforts of the replacement players – they have steered #ThePrideOfJozi to second on the log, just one point behind the Northerns Titans – some of those big names are now returning from Proteas duty and should see action when the DP World Lions take on Boland in Paarl on Saturday.

Given the venue for their fifth match of the campaign, Domingo is particularly pleased that spinners Bjorn Fortuin and Nqaba Peter are making a timely return to the Pride.

“Paarl is generally a low-scoring venue and spin comes into play, there’s never much pace down there. So it will be great to have Nqaba and Bjorn back available.

“But Junaid Dawood has done a fantastic job as our frontline spinner. He was very good last season when he had a couple of opportunities to play and I’m very pleased for him because he has put in a lot of effort and stayed patient for his chance,” Domingo said.

The 28-year-old leg-spinner is the joint-highest wicket-taker in the competition with 10.

The last time the DP World Lions men’s team were in Bloemfontein to play the Free State Knights in a T20 match was, astonishingly, way back in December 2017 and it was a tiff that only lasted 13 overs before rain forced play to be abandoned.

Our defending champions are back in the City of Roses to take on the Knights in the CSA T20 Challenge on Wednesday night, and it is something of a journey into the unknown given the gap between T20 fixtures there and the fact that the Free Staters boast a new-look side.

Back in 2017, the Knights had players like Keegan Petersen, who scored an unbeaten 52 off 40 balls to take them to 86 for two when play was stopped, Theunis de Bruyn and David Miller playing for them. Now, having returned from being relegated to Division II last season, they boast some exciting new talent like Garnett Tarr, Dian Forrester and Tiaan van Vuuren.

The Free Staters may have only won one of their three matches so far this season, but DP World Lions coach Russell Domingo says it would be ill-judged to underestimate them in any way.

“The Knights could easily have won three from three; one of their losses was in a super over. They have good young cricketers but also lots of experience with guys like Aaron Phangiso, Malusi Siboto and Gihahn Cloete. Along with Jacques Snyman and Tiaan van Vuuren, they are a helluva dangerous side and they had a great win over the Warriors in their last match,” Domingo said upon their arrival in Bloemfontein.

“So we need to do what we’ve been doing in our last two matches, it’s working at the moment. We want to be solid and well-organised up front, and then play from there. We have a much less experienced batting line-up than last season with Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen, Reeza Hendricks and Wiaan Mulder all away, and the last thing we want to do is lose early wickets like we did in our first game against the Titans.

“So our plan is to assess conditions in the first three overs or so, and then allow the really good finishers we have to play. I’m of the school of thought that T20 games are not won in the first six overs but in the last six overs of each innings,” Domingo said.

Evan Jones (SR 193.10), Connor Esterhuizen (SR 165.71) and captain Mitchell van Buuren (SR 159.37) are like heavyweight boxers, primed to deliver the knockout blow at the death.

Our DP World Lions won both their weekend matches in Johannesburg, but just to ensure their success does not breed any complacency, their game against the Dolphins ended up in a much closer finish than expected.

The bowling attack is yet to resemble the title-winning unit of last season, and has been dogged by wides and no-balls in the first three matches – 38 wides and six no-balls in total.

“I’m still reasonably happy because it’s always tricky starting the season with T20 because your bowlers are not yet battle-hardened. We’ve had quite a lot of extras, especially wides,” Domingo said.

With Kwena Maphaka staying behind in Johannesburg due to school exam commitments, Lutho Sipamla is likely to return to the attack. Codi Yusuf took his place in the last match against the Dolphins, after a tough opener versus the Titans, and bounced back in typical bulldog fashion with two key middle-order wickets while conceding just six runs-per-over.

“Codi was good, he’s a big bowler for us across all formats. He was just struggling a bit with confidence, but he’s done a lot of work with Allan Donald [bowling coach],” Domingo said.

The focus is on the big moments for our DP World Lions women’s team this weekend as they head to Bloemfontein to get the 2024/25 HollywoodBets ProSeries underway against the Free State Knights, with coach Shaun Pretorius saying all the hard work has been done in the pre-season and now it is all down to the execution.

The DP World Lions finished as runners-up in both the Pro50 and Pro20 competitions last season, so #ThePrideOfJozi are hungry to get over the line this season.

“The focus is on BMT, those big situations when we need to step up and show character, those times when our backs are against the wall,” Pretorius said.

“We’ve had quite a few warm-up games, including against the Titans and the Knights, as well as lots of middle sessions and some time in the classroom as well, where we went over our game-plans and KPIs. There’s been buy-in from the squad, all the hard work is done and the preparation has gone really well.

“We could not ask for better in terms of the facilities at the DP World Wanderers Stadium, so now it all comes down to the execution,” Pretorius said.

Pretorius is not a keen advertiser of his selections ahead of matches, and in terms of the squad he is taking to Bloemfontein, all he wanted to say was that there are a couple of injured players at present, for which they have good cover, and that there are very experienced players going to take on the Knights.

The hosts, meanwhile, will be without former Proteas captain Mignon van der Merwe (nee’ Du Preez), who is pregnant with twins. And our DP World Lions have good memories of their last visit to Bloemfontein, when they chased down 248 with 31 balls and six wickets to spare in the one-day game, and then won the T20 match by seven wickets with seven balls to spare.

“Mignon has obviously been a big run-scorer for the Knights, but we will not take anything lightly going there. Even though we won both games there last season, we still have to execute properly and be clinical in the different phases of the game. Free State still have Yolandi Potgieter and Izel Cilliers is back.

“I especially want our batters to try and manipulate spin bowling better, we need to score at a better strike-rate against the slow stuff. Against pace we are executing well,” Pretorius said.

Seven wickets from the spinners bowled the Northerns Titans to a 38-run victory over the Free State Knights in their CSA T20 Challenge semi-final in Potchefstroom on Wednesday.

A vastly-improved Knights attack meant the Titans could only score 158 from their 20 overs, compared to the record 271/3 they made just two days earlier.

Free State were well in the game on 92/3, having benefited from a bright start from openers Gihahn Cloete (21) and Jacques Snyman (33), but from the 15^th over onwards it was one-way traffic as the Northerns spinners took control.

Five wickets were claimed in the space of 22 deliveries as the Knights crashed to 111/8, and they eventually closed on 120/8.

Left-arm spinner Neil Brand did the bulk of the damage with 3/24 from his four overs, but there was much pressure exerted from the other end as well, with orthodox left-armer Aaron Phangiso (3-0-16-1), off-spinner Simon Harmer (4-0-22-2) and leggie Dewald Brevis (3-0-15-1) all emerging from the match with excellent figures.

Northerns had elected to bat first, but with fast bowler Gerald Coetzee roaring in with impressive pace, the Knights turned their frustrations and humiliation from their previous meeting into redemption.

Coetzee roughed up their nemesis Brevis, and fellow quick Migael Pretorius then roared with delight as he had the prodigious talent caught at mid-on for just 9, trying to drive on the up.

It was a real arm-wrestle for the Titans, but Jiveshan Pillay scored a composed 33 off 24 balls, and the experienced Theunis de Bruyn (36 off 28) and Sibonelo Makhanya (45 off 34) shared a key partnership of 48 for the third wicket in 6.2 overs.

Coetzee (4-0-28-2) was outstanding in leading a Knights attack that was as smart as it was ferocious, with Mbulelo Budaza (4-0-22-1) and Alfred Mothoa (4-0-31-0) also impressive.

Off-spinner Jacques Snyman (3-0-17-1) was also hard to get away, but the Titans had given themselves enough of a total for their spinners to run rampant once again.