Centuries from Jordan Hermann and JP King helped the Dafabet Warriors to a respectable 292-8 after the first day of the CSA 4-Day Series final (to be played over five days) against the DP World Lions at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
But the Lions enjoyed an excellent final session to haul themselves back into the contest, claiming six Warriors’ scalps for 95 runs after the visitors had enjoyed their tea on a dominant 197-2.
This was largely due to a combination of better discipline from the Lions’ bowlers – bowling wicket to wicket – and some soft dismissals.
And there was one further twist on an excellent opening day when King and Wesley Bedja added an unbroken 47 for the ninth wicket to take the Warriors to their final total.
Indeed, Bedja finished unbeaten on 16 in the partnership, the third highest total by a Warriors’ batter after a major middle-order collapse threatened to capsize everything that Hermann and King had achieved during the first two sessions.
The Warriors had made a solid start to the day, only losing the wicket of Modiri Litheko for a total of 89 runs by lunch after Lions’ skipper Dominic Hendricks had won the toss and put their opponents into bat.
There had been some rain early in the morning and Hendricks must have felt that the extra moisture would help his seam attack, particularly as the Wanderers wicket tends to flatten out on the second and third days.
After all, they had dismissed the KZN Inland franchise, the Moothee Ram Tuskers, for 63 the previous week with Wiaan Mulder taking a career-best 7-6.
As it turned out, the pitch played relatively well and the Lions’ pace attack, with the honourable exceptions of Mulder (0-11 in six overs) and Codi Yusuf (0-16 in five) didn’t quite hit their marks with left-handed opener Hermann, in particular, exploiting some loose deliveries to give his team a brisk start, cracking eight fours and a six in his unbeaten 62 in 74 balls at the break.
Litheko was more conservative, focusing largely on defence and leaving well outside his off-stump although he brought up the half-century stand in 77 balls with a flashing cover-drive for four off Delano Potgieter.
For the most part Hermann looked comfortable at the crease although he survived a couple of tight lbw decisions against Mulder and Potgieter with the ball swinging back into him.
The Lions’ solo strike in the session came when left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin was brought on half-an-hour before the break.
With his first ball he curved a beautifully flighted arm ball through a gap between Litheko’s bat and pad to shatter his stumps.
The right-hander departed for a gritty 17 in 58 balls, having helped the dominant Hermann put on 68 for the first wicket and take some of the shine off the new ball.
LUCK AND PATIENCE
The Warriors’ batters struck the same note after lunch, playing excellent “test match” cricket, keeping out the good balls and punishing the loose deliveries.
While Hermann continued to play positively, King showed great patience – and enjoyed some luck – at the other end.
The powerful right-hander, who took 69 balls to reach 15, was dropped on 12 at short leg by Dom Hendricks off Fortuin, a very tough chance that either sticks or doesn’t.
He was fortunate again on 39 when he crashed a back-foot stroke just to the left of point off paceman Siya Plaatjie where Wandile Makwetu grassed a very catchable stomach-high chance.
But the afternoon, like the morning, belonged to Hermann who struck his third century of the summer.
He hit 14 fours and a six in his 110 that spanned 133 balls and rarely looked out of his comfort zone.
He struck a number of superb straight and cover drives in his innings and it was appropriate that he crashed Swanepoel for a straight four to reach three figures.
A fluent cover drive in the same over brought up the 100 partnership with King as well as his 3000th run in first-class cricket.
He didn’t survive much longer, however, with Swanepoel getting one to nip back and trap him leg before.
Hermann’s dismissal was the key moment when the Lions’ bowlers tightened up their disciplines.
The increased pressure on the batters paid off with Matthew Breetzke slashing a short, wide delivery from Potgieter to slip, Sinethemba Qeshile was well caught by Makwetu at point and skipper Senuran Muthusamy was trapped leg before by the Lions’ best bowler, Mulder.
Patrick Kruger followed the procession of soft wickets when he slapped a slow full-toss back to Potgieter while Matthew Boast fell to a magnificent caught and bowled by Mulder, the bowler scooping the ball up a centimetre from the turf.
And when Aphiwe Mnyanda was leg before to Yusuf, the Warriors had lost six wickets for 48 since tea.
But King and Bedja kept the innings afloat with a spirited ninth-wicket stand.
The powerful King, in a rich vein of form following aggressive innings of 86 and 84 against the Dolphins last week, played a very different knock this time, grafting a century that kept his team afloat despite a middle-order collapse.
Some late aggression ensured that he reached his ton just before the close, finishing unbeaten on 113 in 214 balls, including 11 fours and three sixes.
A master- class 100🔥
— The Dafabet Warriors (@WarriorsCrickEC) February 18, 2026
100 up for JP King⚔️
He steadied the innings with 50 off 189 balls🏏🔥#WozaNawe #4DaySeries#WarriorWay #DafabetWarriors pic.twitter.com/ulNYz9i0Ix
For the Lions, Mulder was again hugely impressive, claiming 2-36 in 19 overs of immaculate medium-pace, while Potgieter took 3-34 in 12 overs.
DP WORLD LIONS: Dominic Hendricks (capt), Richard Seletswane, Zubayr Hamza, Wandile Makwetu, Wiaan Mulder, Connor Esterhuizen (wk), Delano Potgieter, Bjorn Fortuin, Codi Yusuf, Beyers Swanepoel, Siya Plaatjie
DAFABET WARRIORS: Jordan Hermann, Modiri Litheko, JP King, Matthew Breetzke, Senethemba Qeshile (wk), Senuran Muthusamy (capt), Patrick Kruger, Aphiwe Mnyanda, Mathew Boast, Wesley Bedja, Gideon Peters