Junaid Dawood and Wandile Makwetu made telling contributions with the ball and bat to lead the DP Lions to a 66-run victory over the Dafabet Warriors in their T20 Challenge clash at DP World Wanderers in Johannesburg on Friday night.
The leg breaker, Dawood, picked up career-best figures of 5-30 to restrict the Warriors to 177 for six in their chase of 240 runs.
Makwetu with his half century together with 40-plus score contributions from Reeza Hendricks, Mitchell van Bureen and Connor Esterhuizen helped the Lions amass a monster 239 for four in their 20 overs.
Chasing the second-highest total so far in the competition, the Warriors' pursuit got off to the worst start as their captain, Matthew Breetzke, (1) was bowled by Kwena Maphaka in the second over.
JP King(18) was Dawood's first scalp of the night in the seventh over after chipping his shot to Evan Jones who was standing at deep cover.
Beyers Swanepoel was trapped LBW by Dawood in the 12th over for just 18 runs leaving the Warriors 78 for three.
Maphaka took a brilliant diving catch at deep backward point after Senuran Muthusamy (10) was deceived by a slow ball from Dawood and skied his slog.
Andile Mogakane (41 off 47 balls) and Patrick Kruger (10 balls) tried to resurrect the Warriors' innings in the last five overs but it was too little too late.
Both became Dawood’s fourth and fifth wickets in the 17th over.
Mogakane was the first to go and was caught at leg gully by Esterhuizen from a mistimed sweep while Kruger was caught by Maphaka at deep backward point.
In the first innings, 25-year old, Makwetu smashed five sixes and two boundaries for his 55 runs off 41 balls and also shared a 75-run third-wicket partnership with Hendricks which helped rejuvenate and resurrect the Lions' innings after being 24 for one in the fourth over.
Makwetu and his opening partner Zubayr Hamza laid a solid foundation for the home team with the bat after skipper Van Buuren won the toss and chose to bat.
The pair reached 24 runs in the first three overs before Hamza mistimed his slog and was caught at mid on by Siya Plaatjie off Beyers Swanepoel’s bowling.
The Lions made 41 for one in the first power play with Makwetu and Hendricks out in the middle.
Two overs later Makwetu, who had a slow start to his innings, stepped on the accelerator and hit Warriors spinner Muthusamy for 24 runs.
Makwetu brought up his first T20 career fifty in the same over which included fours sixes.
In the 11th over and with the Lions one run short of the 100 mark, the dangerous Makwetu was dismissed by Siya Semetu after his attempted shot was caught at long off by Plaatjie.
Hendricks followed suit to the dressing room in the 14th over for his 41 runs off 27 balls after being mistiming his shot to Breetzke at long on off the bowling of Chris King, leaving the Lions 144 for three.
Delano Potgieter, who played a 15-ball cameo for 36 and shared a 45-run partnership with Hendricks, was sent packing in the 15th over after edging a Plaatjie length ball behind to Jean Du Plessis.
The skipper Van Buuren (41 off 16 balls) and Esterhuizen (40 off 17 balls) finished with unbeaten scores and a sixth-wicket partnership of 87 runs.
King, Plaatjie, Swanepoel, Simetu and King all picked up one wicket for the visitors.
DP WORLD LIONS: Zubayr Hamza, Wandile Makwetu(wk), Reeza Hendricks, Mitchell van Buuren(c), Connor Esterhuizen, Delano Potgieter, Evan Jones, Tshepo Moreki, Lubabalo, Sipamla, Kwena Maphaka, Junai Dawood.
DAFABET WARRIORS: Matthew Breetzke(c), Andile Mogakane, JP King, Jean Du Plessis(wk), Senuran Muthusamy, Sinethemba Qeshile, Patrick Kruger, Beyers Swanepoel, Chris King, Siya Semetu and Siya Plaatjie