Ken Borland

Our DP World Lions Ladies attack consists of four spin bowlers who have all produced outstanding displays for the team, and on Sunday it was Sarah Nettleton’s chance to shine as she produced the best ever figures for the Central Gauteng side in T20 cricket.

Nettleton claimed incredible figures of five for 11 in her four overs as #ThePrideOfJozi skittled the Momentum Multiply Titans for just 101 at SuperSport Park, on their way to a bonus point win by nine wickets with 71 balls to spare in their HollywoodBets Pro20 Series derby.

New DP World Lions recruit Tazmin Brits tore into the Titans bowling to plunder a dazzling 55 not out off just 22 balls, with five fours and four sixes, as she raced the Pride to victory in the ninth over.

But it was the 21-year-old Nettleton who stole the spotlight, as she broke the record for best T20 figures for the Lions, improving on the five for 12 Yumna Plowker took against Free State in 2012/13.

Off-spinner Nettleton’s changes of pace and subtle variations in length, combined with her accuracy, proved way too much for the Titans batters, as the home side crashed from 30 without loss to 79 for seven, with fellow spinners Kgomotso Rapoo (4-0-22-1) and Raisibe Ntozakhe (2-0-13-1) each contributing a wicket as well.

The new-ball bowlers, Refilwe Moncho (3.3-0-15-2) and Relebohile Mkhize (4-0-18-1) then returned to wrap up the innings.

Nonkhululeko Thabethe (22 off 18) and Kirstie Thomson (22* off 10) then helped Brits put the Titans bowlers to the sword.

The DP World Lions’ other spinner, Jenna Evans, took a couple of wickets the previous day in the HollywoodBets Pro50 Series match, helping to bowl out the Titans for 231 in the 48^th over after the hosts had elected to bat first.

The leg-spin of Rapoo was even more effective, as the captain took three for 40 in 10 excellent overs, and a fifth spinner, Madison Landsman, took two for 33 in seven overs. Mkhize took two for 35 in 8.5 overs of tidy left-arm seam.

Our DP World Lions made a great start to their run-chase, openers Thabethe (35) and Brits, who scored a run-a-ball 40, putting on 83 in the first 17 overs.

The wicket of Brits, caught at long-off off the bowling of her Proteas team-mate Sune Luus, was obviously a key blow, the DP World Lions then slipping to 88 for three, but the experienced duo of Thomson (15) and Sunette Viljoen-Louw added 43 for the fourth wicket to put the Pride back on track.

But Thomson was then stumped charging a spinner, Rapoo was run out and the Lions lost three wickets for 10 runs as Evans was bowled by a delivery that ripped back into her and kept low.

The DP World Lions obviously still had hope while Viljoen-Louw was still there and she stuck it out until the 43^rd over, scoring a determined 46. But the veteran batter fell to a miraculous one-handed catch leaping on the cow-corner boundary, and the DP World Lions then slid to 175 all out and defeat by 56 runs as they suffered their first loss of the 50-over competition.

Dwaine Pretorius was obviously the star of the show as South Africa levelled the T20 series against Pakistan on Saturday with the best figures in the history of Proteas T20 cricket, but the all-rounder said the efforts of spin bowlers Tabraiz Shamsi and Jon-Jon Smuts in the middle overs of the innings were as worthy of reward as his incredible return of five for 17.

Pretorius broke the record for best T20 figures for South Africa, previously held by Ryan McLaren, who took five for 19 against the West Indies at North Sound. He bowled the second over of the innings, trapping Pakistan kingpin Babar Azam lbw with his second ball and then returned in the 14^th over of the innings to remove top-scorer Mohammad Rizwan for 51 and claiming three other wickets in the closing stages of the innings.

But before his second spell, wrist-spinner Shamsi bowled brilliantly in the middle overs to take one for 16 in his four overs, while Smuts conceded just 20 runs in his four overs of canny left-arm orthodox.

“That was next-level bowing by Shamo and Jon-Jon and they could easily have taken the wickets instead of me. That’s why I say it was a collective effort by the attack and the two spinners tightened the noose superbly. And Heinrich Klaasen captained the team really well, changing the bowlers around a lot so no-one could get settled on the batting side.

“So the spinners did superbly and the other seamers also executed the plan really well, and I just tried to stick to my plan. Sometimes in T20, the simpler the better and I just tried to keep my plans simple, although I have learnt, especially from bowing coach Charl Langeveldt, that it’s vital that the batsman doesn’t know which ball is coming, you also don’t want the batsman to settle into facing one thing,” Pretorius said after the six-wicket win.

Pretorius also praised the batsmen, especially Reeza Hendricks and Pite van Biljon, who both scored 42 and played the spinners aggressively, showing that even a daunting leg-spinner like Usman Qadir is only human as he faltered under pressure, conceding 43 runs in his four overs.

“The batsmen have actually played a lot of good cricket lately, but then it’s just been one or two overs that we lose really badly. As a batting unit, they’ve tried to focus on making sure that when you hit a bad patch, you don’t lose a cluster of wickets. They’re trying to keep their intensity high and they did that unbelievably well today. It’s about the big moments and we played those better tonight,” Pretorius said.