Ken Borland

Having performed brilliantly for a bonus point win over the Warriors in Gqeberha, a home semi-final now beckons for the DP World Lions men’s team if they can beat the Momentum Multiply Titans in their CSA T20 Challenge match in Centurion on Friday.

Our Pride were superb in hammering the Warriors by 43 runs at St George’s Park on Wednesday night, the bonus point seeing them overtake the long-time log-leaders at the top of the standings. The DP World Lions now have 40 points from their nine wins in 12 matches, one point ahead of the Eastern Province side.

Victory at SuperSport Park on Friday night will take the #PrideOfJozi to at least 44 points, which means whatever the other results in the last two rounds of fixtures, the DP World Lions will be guaranteed to finish in the top two of the CSA T20 Challenge. They finish off the round-robin campaign against the Tuskers in Johannesburg on Sunday.

Sent in to bat in conditions that were not easy for strokeplay, the DP World Lions did well to cobble together a total of 152 for nine against the Warriors. Opener Ryan Rickelton led the way with his determined, well-judged 52 off 38 balls. His fourth half-century of the campaign was enough for him to become the leading run-scorer in the competition with 378 in 10 innings for an average of 47.25, at an excellent strike-rate of 144.82.

Rickelton was well-supported by fellow opener Reeza Hendricks, who stroked 31 off 23 balls as they gave the DP World Lions an excellent start by putting on 58 in the powerplay.

Rassie van der Dussen, with a run-a-ball 17, then added 40 for the second wicket with Rickelton in five-and-a-half overs, but wickets then fell in the 12^th, 13^th and 15^th overs as our Pride slipped to 106 for four.

Two more wickets then fell in the 17^th over, another in the 19^th and then the DP World Lions lost both Evan Jones and Nqaba Peter to the last two balls of the innings.

But in between that clatter of wickets, you have to give credit to the batsmen for still keeping the scoreboard ticking over on a very dry, slow pitch.

Jones led the way with his 12 off just nine deliveries, but Mitchell van Buuren, Bjorn Fortuin and Lutho Sipamla all collected important boundaries in the closing overs and scored at at least a run-a-ball.

Sipamla was hit for a four and a six off successive deliveries by Warriors captain Matthew Breetzke, but then struck back by having the young dasher caught at mid-off, and wonderful spinner Fortuin (4-0-12-1) then deceived Andile Mogakane and sharp work by Rickelton behind the wicket saw him stumped for a duck as the Pride made a good start with the ball.

Mulder then showed why we are so fortunate to have an all-rounder of his quality in the team as he came on and made two hammer blows in his first two overs, trapping Jiveshan Pillay lbw and then taking a caught-and-bowled to dismiss Jordan Hermann.

With Jones chipping in with the wicket of Sinethemba Qeshile, we were in firm control with the Warriors 36 for five. Spinner Junaid Dawood (4-0-33-1) also contributed by bowling Patrick Kruger with his slider, while Jones (3.1-0-17-2) also dismissed the dangerous Beyers Swanepoel, Mulder taking a fantastic running catch in the outfield.

Mulder then returned and also claimed the wickets of Liam Alder, a former Lions player, and Siya Simetu to finish with magnificent career-best figures of four for 14 in his four overs.

The Warriors’ last wicket also fell to a run out, thanks to good work by Van Buuren, as they were dismissed for 109 in the final over.

EDENVALE, Gauteng – Maiken Bing Paulsen may come from the hip river city of Drammen in Norway, but she showed on Wednesday why she calls Glendower Golf Club her “home away from home” when she fired a six-under-par 66 to claim a share of the lead after the first round of the Jabra Ladies Classic.

Russia’s Nina Pegova also shot a 66, but there was little doubt Paulsen was the club favourite. That’s because whenever the 27-year-old is in South Africa playing on the Sunshine Ladies Tour, she bases herself in Johannesburg and uses the scenic Glendower course for training purposes.

“This is my home away from home, I have spent a lot of time here at Glendower,” Paulsen said after her round of six birdies, an eagle and two bogeys. “They have been really nice to me over the years, letting me practise here on this beautiful and tough course.

“So I know the members well and the staff have been very good to me. And it was a really enjoyable round today, I was really steady off the tee and I didn’t miss any fairways. And my putting was exceptional, I can’t remember when last I holed so many, but that’s something you can’t always count on,” Paulsen said.

In her fifth year on the Ladies European Tour, Paulsen began her round at Glendower on Wednesday on the 10^th and produced a scintillating front nine with five birdies and no dropped shots.

The front nine was more testing for her as she started with three pars and then went bogey-birdie-bogey. The turning point, and the shot that ultimately put her top of the leaderboard, came on the seventh tee.

“They moved us up this morning and the flag was 215 metres away. I wasn’t sure whether to use a three-wood because I thought that may have been too long, so I just hit a high fade instead and it landed a metre-and-a-half from the flag, then I made the eagle putt,” a delighted Paulsen said.

She only had a lease on the sole lead, however, because about 20 minutes later, Pegova joined her on six-under after making a birdie on the par-three 17^th. It was the 30-year-old’s eighth birdie of the day, and she also had two bogeys, on the fifth and 10^th holes, both par-fours.

England’s Gabriella Cowley was alone in third after shooting a 67, while South Africans Cara Gorlei and Nadia van der Westhuizen shared fourth on four-under-par. Fellow South Africans Tandi McCallum and Bronwyn Doeg were tied in sixth place after making 69s.

A triumph on the road is always a boost, but what you gain from winning at home and making the DP World Wanderers Stadium a fortress for the #PrideOfJozi is probably even more important, given the length of the CSA T20 Challenge.

So says DP World Lions men’s bowling coach and South African cricket legend Allan Donald, whose own career was linked so massively with the Bullring.

The DP World Lions may have gone down by four wickets in the last over to the Dolphins at Kingsmead in midweek for the first loss of our campaign, but Donald preferred to give credit to the opposition rather than worry about a rare off night for the team in one of the most difficult places in the country for visiting teams.

As such, our Pride, and Donald especially, are really keyed up for two massive home games coming up this weekend, against the Momentum Multiply Titans on Friday evening and the in-form World Sports Betting Western Province team on Sunday afternoon.

“It looked a beautiful pitch in Durban, absolute gun for batting, but then it nipped a little and it was tough to hit down the ground. The Dolphins bowled exceptionally well to use that bit of nip, and for us to get to 155 I thought was really good,” Donald said.

“We took two early wickets but then Bryce Parsons played magnificently and he had really good support at the end, he took his chances against spin. And yet we still managed to take it to the last over against a side that knows how to play there, it’s a tough place, and all credit to them because they were zero-for-two in the competition.

“But this competition is a marathon and you need to be very patient. Now we have two derbies against the Titans and Western Province that are always very closely-contested, and I think they are going to be two absolute crackers based on the pitch we had against the Rocks.

“We’re coming up against two quality teams and home games are massive. I expect a run-fest and whoever defends best will win. It will be a battle of inches and the bravery and execution and skill of the players is going to be tested to the limit,” Donald said.

Rickelton took advantage of an excellent wicket in the DP World Lions’ opening match against Boland to blaze his way to 75 off 39 balls, and his clean striking will again be a key factor at the Wanderers on Friday and Sunday.

But it is a revitalised Temba Bavuma who is top of the national averages after his fluent 53 not out off 40 balls against the Dolphins kept the Pride in the game. Rassie van der Dussen and Reeza Hendricks have also made good runs in the T20 campaign already and Mitchell van Buuren showed his progression in the shortest format in the SA20.

“Temba batted exceptionally well on a slow pitch and Mitchell was batting beautifully too. Winning at home is a massive deal and I’m sure all those guys are going to step up,” Donald said.

With batsmen expected to hold sway, it is perhaps the wicket-taking ability of the attacks that will be vital in stemming the flow of runs. For the DP World Lions, there can be no-one better than the graceful Kagiso Rabada, with the action as smooth as silk but delivering lethal weapons, to lead their attack.

Left-arm quick Kwena Maphaka will be alongside him again and the 17-year-old has made an incredibly smooth transition to senior domestic cricket.

“It’s so nice to see the national team players like KG turning out for us, it really gives the team a boost and they bring a lot of calmness,” Donald said. “And the more I watch Kwena, the more I realise he is just something else. He’s only 17 years old but he’s not scared, he doesn’t take a backwards step.

“It’s going to be great to see how he does and it’s going to be a wonderful festival at the DP World Wanderers this weekend. It won’t be easy to defend, we’ll have to be extremely smart and decision-making is going to come to the fore. When things are really tight, which is likely against two very good teams, that’s when you need to be on the money,” Donald said.

Sweden’s Ellen Hutchinson-Kay recovered from a rollercoaster front nine to come home in bogey-free three-under and claim the outright lead after the second round of the Fidelity ADT Ladies Challenge at the Blue Valley Golf Estate on Thursday.

Hutchinson-Kay, a product of the American College system, graduating from the University of Mississippi, shot a wonderful five-under-par 67 in the penultimate round to move to nine-under-par overall, two shots ahead of Frenchwoman Ariane Klotz.

The 25-year-old Hutchinson-Kay had a dramatic opening nine holes with a bogey, a double-bogey, three birdies and an eagle to reach the turn on two-under. But she showed her temperament with back-to-back birdies on the 13^th and 14^th, and then a birdie on the par-five 15^th to ensure the lead was her’s alone. After the first round, Hutchinson-Kay shared top spot on four-under-par with England’s Georgia Coughlin and South African Kiera Floyd.

Hutchinson-Kay dropped her first shot on the par-three second, but then went racing into the lead with a run of birdie-birdie-eagle, making a three on the par-five fifth. But the 344m par-four seventh then proved her downfall as she made double-bogey.

Once again she bounced back, however, with a birdie on the par-three eighth and it was smooth sailing thereafter for a golfer who is taking her first steps into European golf and is in her first full year as a professional.

Coughlin endured an even more hellish time, going out in 40 with five bogeys and a lone birdie on the third, and things were no better coming home as she signed for an 80 with three more bogeys and a double on the par-four 14^th. Not even a birdie at the last could save her from missing the cut.

Klotz dominated the Gary Player design, also shooting 67 and not dropping a shot in a superb display of controlled golf. Germany’s Helen Kreuzer was in third place a shot further back on six-under, after a 68 that had just one bogey, on the par-four 16^th.

Germany’s Carolin Kauffmann (70) and Norwegian Tina Mazarino (68) shared fourth place on five-under-par.

Floyd went out in 34 despite making two bogeys, but she slipped down the leaderboard with three drops on the back nine, before a birdie at the last lifted her to four-under, in a tie for sixth with consistent Dutchwoman Romy Meekers and the other leading South African, Stacy Bregman (70).