Ken Borland

DP World Lions captain Dominic Hendricks has been able to massage away the disappointments of last season with a great accumulation of runs so far in the 2024/25 CSA 4-Day Series campaign, helping his team to the top of the standings as they go into their Christmas break.

Hendricks has scored 350 runs in seven innings this season, averaging 58.33 with one century and two fifties, all of those coming in testing batting conditions at the DP World Wanderers Stadium. His 161 not out against World Sports Betting Western Province was an epic innings spanning more than nine hours and 370 deliveries, setting up a 125-run victory. The left-handed opener then followed that up with a tenacious 89 against the Dafabet Warriors, again playing a pivotal role in a win by a massive 200 runs. He was named man of the match on both occasions.

Those back-to-back triumphs by the DP World Lions completed a hat-trick of wins at their home fortress and they top the standings with 83.96 points from four matches. The defending champions are more than 30 points ahead of the Renault North-West Dragons and the Free State Knights.

“Last season I struggled a bit, but this season I’ve really focused on being in my bubble and getting the opposition to bowl at me,” Hendricks says. “I’m not straying from my game-plan and I’m keeping things as simple as possible. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel.

“It’s been very intense, very tough cricket at the DP World Wanderers because of how tricky the pitch has been. But we’ve done really well at home and fortunately we’ve had most of our fixtures there so far. We play four of our seven fixtures at home this season, so that’s a nice advantage. Ideally, we would like to make the DP World Wanderers our home fortress.

“We’re sitting pretty in the standings at the moment, but we can’t be complacent when we come back to four-day cricket in March. We’ll need to carry on from where we left off. We’ve bowled really well and most of the guys have been in the runs as well. We’ve shown how good we can be, and when we return there’ll be more opportunities for the guys to produce man-of-the-match plays,” Hendricks says.

The pitch for the last game, the convincing win over the Warriors, was one of the toughest DP World Wanderers surfaces the 34-year-old stalwart has come across. But the batting effort showed the character of both the captain and his team-mates.

“I was really surprised by how much movement there was right through the game,” Hendricks says. “There was actually too much movement and visiting teams often don’t know how to bowl on DP World Wanderers pitches like that. The margin of error is always small and they tend to bowl a little too short, while we are a touch fuller.

“But the conditions evolve and as the pitch becomes better for batting, so the right length changes, it can go from four to six metres. Our bowlers have been really good at adapting and they’ve taken the feedback from the batsmen as to where to bowl to make it most difficult.

“The bowlers also did a phenomenal job in Potchefstroom where conditions became very batting friendly after the new ball. They kept them to less than three runs an over for more than 100 overs, which shows their skill,” Hendricks said.

Another member of #ThePrideOfJozi who has shown his talents to great effect has been young Muhammad Manack. The 22-year-old came in at first wicket down against Western Province in the second over of the match and added 108 for the second wicket with Hendricks, while scoring a career-best 64. Against the Warriors, he came to the crease in the seventh over and added 78 with his skipper in the first innings and then made 49 in the second innings, coming in in the 10^th over and adding 64 with Josh Richards.

“Mo has certainly not looked like a duck out of water, he’s taken to that crucial number three position really well,” Hendricks says. “He made his debut last season, playing just one game while I was away for a wedding, but he immediately looked like he fits in. he’s worked really hard, but unfortunately there have not been that many opportunities for him, which is a tricky situation for a youngster.

“But he’s definitely shown he belongs, he’s a really compact, nice number three. Neil McKenzie always used to say that numbers one to three are the engine room of the team, you want your number four walking in with 40 overs bowled and ready to dominate.

“I really enjoy batting with the younger guys. At training you can know a player to a certain extent, but that’s not real pressure. So it was great to see how Mo handled himself out in the middle under pressure and how he went about his business. He’s very soft-spoken, but his temperament really stood out,” Hendricks says.

The DP World Lions scored the least number of runs in the powerplay out of all the teams in the CSA T20 Challenge, and yet they went on to top the log and win the competition in convincing fashion, which points to how smart their cricket was, and in the last two weeks it had a lot to do with the riches of experience brought to the number three position by Rassie van der Dussen.

The final at the DP World Wanderers Stadium last weekend was a case in point. The Momentum Multiply Titans went hard in the powerplay and consequently made a poor start on a tricky pitch, crashing to 34 for three in the first six overs. That became 54 for six in the ninth over and our DP World Lions were in a powerful position early in the game.

“Aiming for around 40 in the powerplay has served us well,” head coach Russell Domingo said after claiming the title with a clinical eight-wicket win with 29 balls to spare. “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.”

Van der Dussen has epitomised that smart cricket since he returned to the team from duty overseas for the last two round-robin matches and then the playoffs – notching scores of 43 (off 33 balls), 59 (38), 40* (37) and 44 not out in the final off just 31 deliveries. That saw him to the top of the final batting averages with 186 runs at an average of 93 and a healthy strike-rate of 133.81.

“We know how to play at the DP World Wanderers and it’s not as if the pitch gets better in the second innings. So in the first 10 overs we’ve been happy to be around run-a-ball as long as we’re not too many wickets down, because from 60 for six there is no coming back, like we saw in the final,” Van der Dussen said.

“So we’re happy if we’re 60 for two or three at halfway because then we are set up to get 160/170. We’re really trying to guard our wickets. At a place like SuperSport Park, where it’s really flat and the ball flies, you can take on the powerplay and you can be 70 after six overs. But we use our home advantage.

“I’m happy playing a certain way and I do have a few years of experience. My stats get nit-picked and it’s been said that I don’t score enough runs in my first few balls. So I’ve had to find the balance between righting those stats and the fact that I really want to win. I will do whatever is needed to win, whatever it takes to get to the playoffs. People use stats in whatever way suits them, but there’s only one thing that’s always at the forefront of my mind and that’s what’s needed to win in the current situation. I love playing for the Lions and I just want them to win,” Van der Dussen said.

The other obvious feature of our DP World Lions’ triumph was how the absence of Proteas stars like Temba Bavuma, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder and Kagiso Rabada did not stop the charge of #ThePrideOfJozi to the title.

“It’s been great to see that despite having lost Ryan, Temba, KG and Wiaan to the Proteas, and myself, Reeza Hendricks, Nqaba Peter and Bjorn Fortuin at the start, we were still able to defend our title,” Van der Dussen said. “To see others coming in has been fantastic, like Junaid Dawood, who still finished as the leading wicket-taker in the competition, with Kwena Mapahaka, even though he didn’t play the last few games.

“That’s always our challenge at the DP World Lions, to rectify the loss of our Proteas, to fill the gaps. Russell communicated with us at the start of the season that it was not a long tournament, so he also had to balance giving guys playing opportunity. The back-up guys also need to get game-time, you need to give them responsibility so we can see what we’ve got after the internationals.

“They have filtered in really well and it’s been a totally different team to win the competition this season. And it’s been great to see the same principles that we aspired to last season – things like work ethic, not getting ahead of ourselves and there being no egos, speaking the same language – have been there again.

“But when you have leaders like Jono Leaf-Wright and Russell Domingo, then they keep you so grounded. Jono is just the best human being and Russell is always really direct and honest with us,” the veteran stalwart of #ThePrideOfJozi said.

Neil Brand was South Africa’s Test captain just three matches ago,  but now seems almost forgotten by Proteas coach Shukri Conrad. But the Titans skipper knows that a far greater weight of runs than he scored last season will be necessary to force his way back into the picture. Fortunately Brand is the persistent sort.

The left-handed opener and under-rated orthodox spinner led South Africa in their two Tests in New Zealand last summer when the SA20 was being played and had gobbled up most of the country’s top players. Now that everyone is available, competition for places for the two Tests in Bangladesh next month, and the series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan at home, is stiff with most of the stars available.

Brand has started the new season in fine fashion though, scoring an impressive century for the SA A team he led against Sri Lanka A, in Benoni. His 129 highlighted all his strengths – defiance at the crease, the technique to see off the new ball and the ability to shift gears when the bowling allowed it.

Despite his dream of playing Test cricket coming true in the most astonishing way, last season was actually a battle for Brand, who averaged just 25.92 in all first-class cricket last season, with one century and two fifties.

“It was a bit of a struggle,” Brand admitted when interviewed by Rapport. “I just couldn’t get going although I had lots of starts. But I learnt a lot last season too, especially going to New Zealand and playing for SA A. And I’ve put a lot of hard work in during the off-season, especially on my set-up because a lot of bowlers were getting me out from around the wicket, it was something they had obviously analysed.

“So I’ve made things a bit more simple for this season and it’s always nice to start with a hundred. It’s not really my personality to try and get away from cricket, I prefer hard work, so that’s what I did during the winter. There’s definitely a step-up between domestic and international cricket and it’s hardest in batting,” Brand said.

Now that the 28-year-old, who has been playing first-class cricket for nearly a decade, has a sense of what it requires to succeed at international level, he is well-placed to answer the question as to what our domestic players need to be able to make that step up.

If one has been following the conversation around local cricket recently, then you’ll not be surprised to hear him say playing more cricket is the key.

“We definitely lack cricket. Playing just seven first-class games makes it really tough and sometimes, if you have Proteas white-ball commitments, you only play three or four matches. I would definitely be keen for more red-ball games, we need at least 10. Most players who play for 10 years would be heading for 100 games, I have 55.

“So definitely more cricket is needed. Even for bowlers, for the volume required they need to be bowling 20 overs a day. Four-day cricket presents you with tough conditions and you have to find a way to perform. Our skills are there, but we just don’t execute them for long enough,” Brand said.

The runs flowed like the deluge of the previous evening on a record-breaking day for the Northerns Titans at SuperSport Park on Sunday, as they kept themselves in contention for a place in the playoffs of the CSA One-Day Cup by hammering the Eastern Province Warriors by 111 runs on the DLS system.

The heavy rains that fell over the Pretoria region on Saturday night meant the start of play was delayed by an hour due to the wet outfield, the contest being reduced to 43 overs a side.

With the sky thick with cloud and the threat of rain still around, the Warriors could be forgiven for winning the toss and feeling they should bowl first. But the Titans were not in a forgiving mood and they lashed 440 for five in those 43 overs, the second-highest total in the history of the competition. The franchise has scored the four highest totals in the tournament, the record being the 453 for five they smashed against the North-West Dragons in 2021/22, also at SuperSport Park.

But those other three 400+ scores were all made in 50 overs; 440 in 43 overs is a run-rate of 10.23 runs-per-over and that is undoubtedly the highest ever in any sort of limited-overs game in this country that has gone beyond 30 overs. It is quite probably a world record for any match that has gone for more than 35 overs.

Top-scorer Rivaldo Moonsamy has not enjoyed the best of campaigns up till now, scoring just 54 runs in the four innings he has batted, but he returned to form in the most brilliant fashion, belting 126 off just 83 balls, with 15 fours and six sixes.

But, astonishingly, he was not the star of the show. That honour fell to his opening partner Lhuan-dre Pretorius, who raced to his century in just 61 balls, the fastest ever for the Titans. The previous record was the 64-ball ton Farhaan Behardien made against the KZN Dolphins at Centurion in 2014/15.

Behardien was a late developer who played 97 times for South Africa in the limited-overs formats. Pretorius, just 18 years old, is a prodigy who has dazzled in both the SA20 and now the CSA One-Day Cup. The Proteas must surely come calling soon with an eye on the 2027 World Cup.

Pretorius finished with 107 off 69 deliveries, with 11 fours and seven sixes, five of them in the 17^th over bowled by Senuran Muthusamy, the international left-arm spinner. The left-hander is by no means just a basher, however. The power is definitely next level, but so are the smarts. He is a clever batsman, always looking to score, and the majority of his sixes were hit with a straight bat and the minimum of fuss or risk.

The opening partnership of 227 off 147 balls by Pretorius and Moonsamy was the best ever at SuperSport Park, beating the unbeaten 218 that AB de Villiers and Gulam Bodi scored in a 10-wicket victory over the Dolphins in 2005/6.

Sunday’s partnership was ended in the 24^th over, but the pain certainly did not end there for the Warriors, who did not get the assistance they expected with the ball, but were also poor in terms of their lines and lengths.

Dewald Brevis was also the centre of attention when he was still an U19 cricketer and, after a couple of leaner seasons, he is starting to look closer to the finished article. Incredibly, he struck the ball even cleaner than Pretorius and Moonsamy, and seemed on course to snatch Pretorius’s record for fastest Titans hundred from him just over an hour after he had set it as he raced to 75 off 43 balls.

Brevis stroked six sixes, a few of them quite extraordinary in execution, but then he was trapped in front by medium-pacer Andile Mogakane.

Captain Neil Brand (55* off 34 deliveries) and Sibonelo Makhanya, who came through a tough time with the bat this season with 46 not out off 22 balls, then completed a red-letter day with the bat for the Titans as they plundered 76 unbeaten runs off the last 39 deliveries.

There was much pain and suffering amongst the Warriors bowlers. Alfred Mothoa conceded 89 runs in eight overs, and Siya Plaatjie the same but in just six overs! Muthusamy rebounded well from conceding 30 runs to Pretorius in his second over, conceding only 50 in his other eight overs and getting the wickets of Moonsamy and Dayyaan Galiem (4).

The shellshocked Warriors were predictably always well behind in the chase, although JP King (31) and Matthew Breetzke (94 off 72) made a good fist of things in their second-wicket stand of 65 off 56 balls.

Breetzke impressed again with his poise and controlled aggression, backed by sweet timing as he collected 11 fours and two sixes.

When play was interrupted by the threat of lightning, the Warriors were 204 for five after 28 overs and more than 100 runs behind on DLS. When they returned 45 minutes later, they needed 159 runs in four overs.

Muthusamy (29 off 20) and C.J. King (30* off 12 balls with four sixes) had some fun, but Eastern Province ended on 251 for seven in 32 overs.

Left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe took two wickets and conceded just 38 runs his seven overs, and Junior Dala set the tone up front with figures of 4-2-10-0.

The Titans are now on 11 points, just one point behind the Warriors in the third and final playoff place; and Eastern Province may well be joining them on 11 as they are expected to be docked a point for very slow over-rates in this match.

Northerns complete their round-robin campaign with visits to Potchefstroom to play the sixth-placed North-West Dragons on Wednesday and Bloemfontein next Sunday to face the second-placed Free State Knights.