Ken Borland

Coach Dave Nosworthy went out of his way on Wednesday to assure bizhub Highveld Lions fans that his team are not satisfied with merely qualifying for the Champions League; instead, there is a great hunger in the side to win Sunday’s MiWay T20 Challenge final against the Nashua Titans at the Wanderers.

The Lions topped the round-robin log to qualify for the lucrative Champions League for the second time in three seasons, but Nosworthy said this time they are determined to go one better and win the final. In 2009/10, the Lions were hammered by 82 runs by the Eastern Cape Warriors in the final.

“We’ve learnt a lesson from the previous season we qualified for the Champions League, when we rode the honeymoon for too long. Two years ago at St George’s Park, it was a big honeymoon for us and we relaxed mentally. There’s a totally different vibe in the side now and the most important thing for them is the final. The Champions League is great, but the guys are desperate to get over the line on Sunday and will be right up for the game,” Nosworthy said at the Wanderers on Wednesday.

The Lions have not played a full match in the last fortnight, bad weather causing both their games against the Sunfoil Dolphins and the New Age Impi to be abandoned, but the loss of momentum has been partially offset by the opportunity to refocus after the joy of qualifying in first place.

“The emotions have been allowed to come off that massive high and we were out in the middle yesterday, regaining any lost momentum with a middle practice where we set different scenarios. So our preparations are on track,” Nosworthy said.

Nosworthy managed to arrest the decline in confidence in the side after a miserable One-Day Cup campaign at the end of last year in which the Lions finished bottom of the log after winning just two of their 10 games.

“There’s a lot of belief in the side and a balance between the experienced players who have won stuff before and the exuberance of youth. The team chemistry has been one of the key things and when games have gone down to the wire, we’ve had that belief. We’ve stuck to our game plans and kept to our good habits,” Nosworthy said.

The former Titans coach confirmed that he will definitely be making use of the services of Alviro Petersen, who returned from New Zealand with the national team on Wednesday afternoon. While the opening batsman is obviously in form and is a proven limited-overs performer, there is always the risk of disruption to the side, especially since Petersen has been in test-match mode for the last three weeks.

“Alviro will come straight back into the team as captain. He was here for the first four matches and the issues are more if you change four or five players, which changes the whole dynamic. But through this season, Alviro has been more with us than anywhere else and everyone’s more than comfortable with him coming back.

“The players all know his plans and the relationship between him and Thami Tsolekile [the previous captain] is crucial. It is brilliant, they are good mates, so Alviro comes back, he has always been part of us,” Nosworthy said.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/domestic-t20/news/120328/Nosworthy_assures_fans_of_Lions_focus

The BidVest Wanderers pitch is dangerous and unplayable, so the umpires have abandoned the MiWay T20 Challenge match between the bizhub Highveld Lions and Sunfoil Dolphins in Johannesburg on Friday.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/domestic-t20/news/120316/LionsDolphins_match_abandoned

Reserve umpire Dennis Smith told SuperSport.com that the pitch was still too wet after two days of rain and the process of sweating under the covers. Dangerous divots were being formed where the ball pitched and a number of deliveries had already spat up viciously or come slowly off the surface.

The Lions had made their way to 24 for two in six overs after being sent in to bat when umpires Murray Brown, Adrian Holdstock and Smith abandoned the match.

Jonathan Vandiar (6) had skied a pull off Fidel Edwards high to deep mid-on, where Robbie Frylinck took a well-judged catch.

Quinton de Kock scored two before he tried to push Frylinck away on the leg-side, but the ball got stuck in the pitch, the batsman being far too early on the shot, and the ball came off the back of the bat and looped high to deep backward point.

Gulam Bodi was not out on 10 and Neil McKenzie had yet to face a ball when the umpires, their chief concern being the safety of the players on a thoroughly unpredictable surface, called the match off.

The No Result continues the unbelievably wretched luck of the Dolphins, who had four successive games washed out and then lost their previous outing against the Chevrolet Knights when rain intervened.

The two teams will earn two points each, which means the Lions will have to lose their last league fixture, against the New Age Impi in Benoni on Wednesday, and the Knights or Titans record two bonus-point victories for them to be overtaken at the top of the log.

The bizhub Highveld Lions made light work of the Chevrolet Warriors as they hammered them by 115 runs in their MiWay T20 Challenge match at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/domestic-t20/news/120314/Bodi_helps_Lions_hammer_Warriors

The Warriors’ international-class bowling attack was put to the sword as the Lions, led by Gulam Bodi’s career-best 90, posted 199 for six, before Australian fast bowler Dirk Nannes (3-1-9-2) blasted through the visitors’ top-order with two quick wickets.

With Chris Morris – perhaps a future international himself? – also taking two wickets, the Warriors quickly crashed to 28 for four.

A 1200-strong contingent of Lions fans were treated to a thrilling new-ball burst by left-armer Nannes, who bowled fast and full to bowl openers Jon-Jon Smuts for one and Ashwell Prince for four.

The Warriors were 11 for two after three overs, but still had a bit of batting class available with Colin Ingram and Johan Botha at the crease.

Ingram hit a couple of boundaries for his eight but soon made his exit, caught skying an attempted pull off Morris, who then bowled Kelly Smuts for five to complete an excellent spell of two for seven in two overs.

Ex-SA under-19 all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius then bowled Craig Thyssen for two to leave the Warriors on a parlous 36 for five in the eighth over.

Botha scrapped his way to an ugly 15 off 23 balls but the lower order made spinners Aaron Phangiso (two for 30) and Jean Symes (three for five) look like pros of the highest order as the pair claimed combined figures of five for 35 in 4.2 overs.

Athenkosi Dyili was the unbeaten batsman on 15 when the Warriors were all out for 84, condemned to the second-biggest defeat in the history of franchise T20 cricket.

The record is held by the Eagles, who beat the Lions by 130 runs in Potchefstroom in 2004/5.

Bodi had bashed his way by hook or by crook to his career-best 90 on a tough night for the Warriors bowlers on a hard and true Wanderers pitch, surrounded by its usual quick outfield. But the Eastern Cape team made life tougher for themselves with some very untidy fielding.

The Warriors had won the toss and sent the Lions in and made a good start as Makhaya Ntini had Jonathan Vandiar (1) caught at third man to leave the home side on four for one after two overs.

But the visitors were soon singing a different tune as Bodi gave the innings an excellent foundation and Quinton de Kock continued his rich vein of form with 46 off 26 balls.

De Kock hit a pair of sixes and half-a-dozen fours in another top-class display of power-strokeplay, often showing a total lack of respect for the five international bowlers he was up against.

It was a particularly bad day for off-spinner Botha and left-armer Wayne Parnell, who conceded 42 and 44 runs respectively in their four-over stints.

De Kock eventually fell when he got his leg in the way of a quicker delivery from left-arm spinner Nicky Boje and was trapped lbw.

The Lions lost two wickets in two balls as Bodi, who is definitely not a member of the smart-running-between-wickets club, turned down a second run and Pretorius was stranded and run out without facing a ball.

Bodi was not fazed, however, as he went past his former franchise best of 88 not out, for the Titans against the Cobras two seasons ago, hammering seven fours and five sixes in his fantastic 51-ball innings.

It was not a faultless innings by any means, but it did show just how destructive Bodi can be on his day.

Stalwart Neil McKenzie was also an integral part of the fine Lions innings with his 37 off 29 balls, but the Warriors did manage to tighten the screws towards the end of the innings as Parnell and Rusty Theron took three wickets in the last three overs.

Theron was the one bowler to keep calm during the breathless assault, taking one for 32 in his four overs, but there was terrible punishment for the rest of his fellow internationals.