Reeza Hendricks hammered an unbeaten 72 from 50 balls to lead the DP World Lions to a six-wicket victory with two balls to spare in a low-scoring CSA T20 Challenge thriller against Goldrush Boland at Bolan Park in Paarl on Saturday.
Junaid Dawood (4-0-21-3) led a disciplined bowling performance by the Lions attack as they restricted the home side to a modest total of 129-7 after the home side chose to bat first and Hendricks (4x4, 4x6) found the boundary as many times as the entire Boland batting line-up to secure the victory on 132-4.
Legspinner Dawood displayed impeccable control on a typically, slow, spin-friendly pitch as the home side’s batsmen all struggled for timing, accumulating just six fours and two sixes between them.
Lions captain Bjorn Fortuin (4-0-22-0) was no less effective with his left-arm spin while fast bowler Lutho Sipamla’s three overs earned him the first wicket to fall when opener Clyde Fortuin (12) mistimed a drive to mid off and the last for tidy figures of 3-19
No 3 Gavin Kaplan top-scored with an unbeaten 53 from 41 balls with a four and two sixes and opener Grant Roloefsen limped to 27 from 29 balls before top-edging a sweep against Dawood to short fine leg.
Aviwe Mgijima (11) and Keith Dudgeon were both caught slog-sweeping to Zubayr Hamza on the deep midwicket boundary while Lehan Botha (6) edged Dawood to ‘keeper Connor Esterhuizen and Shaun von Berg was trapped lbw by legspinner Nqaba Peter (4-0-28-1) for just five from 11 balls.
Zubayr Hamza was the only other Lions batsman to reach double figures as they struggled to keep Hendricks company, but he became one of two wickets for seamer Keith Dudgeon (2-18) before Delano Potgieter hammered Imran Manack for a six over midwicket in the final over to complete victory.
🔵🟡 Match Result
— DP World Lions (@LionsCricketSA) October 12, 2024
DP World Lions win by 6 wickets😎⚡
Another win for the champions, see you back in Jozi on Wednesday!👊🏏🏟️#LionsCricket #ThePrideOfJozi#TheSpiritOfChampions #T20Challenge#WozaNawe #BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/9Ct36JY2i6
The home side needed to win all of their three remaining games to have any chance of qualifying for the semifinals while the Lions are now well placed with four wins from their five matches and have moved up to second on the log.
GOLDRUSH BOLAND: Clyde Fortuin (captain), Grant Roelofsen (wkt), Gavin Kaplan, Aviwe Mgijima, Lehan Botha, Keith Dudgeon, Shaun von Berg, Ayabulela Gqamane, Imran Manack, Glenton Stuurman, Siyabonga Mahima.
DP WORLD LIONS: Wandile Makwetu, Reeza Hendricks, Zubayr Hamza, Mitchell van Buuren, Connor Esterhuizen (wkt), Delano Potgieter, Evan Jones, Bjorn Fortuin (captain), Nqaba Peter, Lutho Sipamla, Junaid Dawood.