Van der Dussen, Esterhuizen lift the Lions to competitive total

Rassie van der Dussen and Connor Esterhuizen scored wonderful half-centuries to help the DP World Lions reach 170 for three in their CSA T20 Challenge match against Auto Investment North West Dragons played at the JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom, on Saturday afternoon.

The Dragons need 171 runs to win.

Van der Dussen creamed four fours and three sixes for his outstanding 38-ball 59, while Esterhuizen scored a brilliant 62 off 39 deliveries. This is Esterhuizen's maiden T20 half-century.

The Lions' poor run in the first six overs continued. They closed out the powerplay with a score of 36/1. This was in large part thanks to some disciplined bowling from Migael Pretorius. The pacer sent down three powerplay overs and conceded only 10 runs and earned his side a wicket. He could have bagged more had his side held on to catches.

The first was when he got Hendricks to chip the ball to the fielder at fine leg. Unfortunately, the fielder grassed it. The second opportunity came two deliveries later, this time he got Zubayr Hamza to chip the ball towards the fielder at cover. The fielder dropped that one too. However, Pretorius was not disheartened and he got his just reward off the final ball of the over when he dismissed Hendricks via a caught and bowled opportunity.

The Gauteng side has been one of the best batting sides in the middle overs and it was easy to see why. The Lions limit dot balls and run singles hard. Rassie van der Dussen and Connor Esterhuizen shared the Lions' highest partnership, putting on 71 runs for the third wicket. Despite hitting boundaries, Van der Dussen and Esterhuizen ran 28 singles and a substantial number of twos.

The Lions scored 98 runs between the seventh and 16th overs. It was during this period that Rassie van der Dussen reached his half-century, which came off 32 balls. The Proteas star's 50 coincided with the Lions reaching the 100-run mark. Van der Dussen fell in the 18th over while trying to inject some momentum into his side's innings.

Esterhuizen, who had played second fiddle during his partnership with Van der Dussen was required to take the lead when the new man, Mitchell van Buuren came in. Esterhuizen, who had been going close to a run-a-ball for most of his partnership with Van der Dussen, let loose and attacked the bowlers. He scored most of the runs of his unbroken 39-run partnership with Van Buuren.

Migael Pretorius was the pick of the bowlers for the Dragons with a single wicket for 28 runs in four overs. Kerwin Mungroo and Lesiba Ngoepe also bagged a wicket each, however, they conceded more runs and had higher economy rates.

Dragons: Janneman Malan, Ludwich Schuld, Meeka-eel Prince (wk), Wihan Lubbe (capt), Lesiba Ngoepe, Taheer Isaacs, Marco Jansen, Migael Pretorius, Caleb Seleka, Kerwin Mungroo, Achille Cloete

Lions: Zubayr Hamza, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Connor Esterhuizen (wk), Mitchell van Buuren, Delano Potgieter, Evan Jones, Bjorn Fortuin (capt), Nqaba Peter, Tshepo Moreki, Kwena Maphaka