Warriors slay Dragons to claim sixth win of the T20 campaign

Right-arm offspinner JP King took two wickets in two overs to help the Dafabet Warriors to a comfortable 24-run victory over Auto Investments North West Dragons in their CSA T20 Challenge match on Sunday.

King finished with 2-13 from just two overs while Renaldo Meyer and Beyers Swanepoel returned figures of 2-38 and 2-28 respectively, restricting the visitors to 162/9 after 20 overs.

The win sees the Warriors go six wins out of six with 27 points while the Dragons have now lost four matches from the seven matches they have played.

Nobody can stop the Dafabet Warriors 💪

They claim their sixth consecutive win in this season's #CSAT20Challenge 🔝#WozaNawe | #BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/MP9C2oIiNG

— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) March 24, 2024

Chasing 187 for victory, the Dragons lost in-form left hander Rubin Hermann for 10 from 10 balls to Beyers Swanepoel, having hit two boundaries.

Raynard van Tonder and Prince took their side to 35/1 after the power play, before breaching the team half century in the eighth over.

The duo fell two runs short of a 50-run partnership for the second wicket when Siya Simetu claimed his 12th wicket of the tournament, trapping Prince leg before wicket for 25 from 26 deliveries.

King removed Wihan Lubbe (17) before Van Tonder fell to Meyer, as Hermann completed two catches in consecutive overs with the Dragons slipping to 94/4

King struck again when he trapped skipper Senuran Muthusamy in front as the Dragons limped past 100 with half their side out before Meyer dismissed Duan Jansen (5) for his second of the encounter.

Needing 72 from the final 24 balls, the Dragons lost Migael Pretorius (4), Bamanye Xenxe (8), and Seleka (0) just after their team total crossed 160.

Adding to the figures of King, Meyer and Swanepoel, Simetu finished with 1-24 while Alfred Mothoa claimed 1-33.

CAREER BEST FOR QESHILE 

Earlier, a career best T20 score by Warriors batter Sinethemba Qeshile saw his side to a competitive 186/5 in their 20 overs.

Qeshile struck unbeaten 51 runs from 30 balls, hitting four boundaries and three sixes to share 93 runs from 44 balls for the fifth wicket with Patrick Kruger (46 off 21), who hit five fours and a six.

Winning the toss and electing to bat first, the home side got off to a flier after skipper Matthew Breetzke took 22 runs off Migael Pretorius in the fourth over, helping his side to 52/1 after the first six overs, having lost JIveshen Pillay for seven runs off Duan Jansen.

The Warriors slipped to 69/3 after the loss of Breetzke (37 off 25) and Andile Mogakane (9 off 13), both men removed by Caleb Seleka before Wihan Lubbe got rid of Jordan Hermann for 28, as they limped to 91/4 in the 13th over.

Qeshile and Kruger then steadied the ship, hitting a flurry of boundaries as their partnership went past 50, and also took their side past 150 with little more than two overs to spare.

They scored 62 runs in the final four overs as the Warriors moved past 180, while the Qeshile/Kruger partnership breached 90 runs before Kruger was run out with two balls left in the innings.

Seleka finished with 2-33 from four overs, while Lubbe and Jansen claimed 1-23 and 1-39 respectively from eight overs