Maphaka, Peter star as Lions secure final spot

The DP World Lions hosted their cross-town rivals, Momentum Multiply Titans, in the Jukskei derby at DP World Wanderers, clinching a commanding seven-wicket victory to book their place in the 2024/25 T20 Challenge final.

After winning the toss, the Lions opted to field first, a decision that paid off handsomely.

Young Lions bowlers, Nqaba Peter (4/15) and Kwena Maphaka (3/11) spearheaded a dominant bowling performance, skittling the Titans for a modest 115 all out.

Despite the collapse, Dayyaan Galiem provided some resistance for the visitors with a well-fought 44, supported by Donovan Ferreira’s 21.

In response, the Lions' experienced batsmen made the chase look effortless. Reeza Hendricks led the charge with a fluent 61, while Rassie van der Dussen remained unbeaten on 40, guiding the defending champions to a comfortable win.

Hendricks fell, trapped lbw by a Galiem off-cutter, just four runs short of becoming the highest ever run-scorer in the history of this competition: He moved to 3 180 runs in 106 innings and Morne van Wyk’s record of 3 183 runs in 113 innings will surely be surpassed in Sunday’s final.

“We couldn’t really have asked for anything better tonight,” Hendricks said. “The bowlers set the tone, restricting the Titans to a good score for us and then we were clinical with the bat to finish things off. So we are happy with the performance and hopefully we can repeat it on Sunday.

“It was a really good game by us after we had a bit of a stumble against Western Province last week and hopefully we are peaking at the right time again. It gives us a great deal of confidence to beat this strong Titans outfit but whoever we play on Sunday is going to come out firing against us,” Hendricks concluded.

Next up at the Wanderers, the Auto Investments North West Dragons will face World Sports Betting Western Province on Wednesday in the Eliminator clash to determine who will join Titans in the second Qualifier on Friday.

The format for the play-offs

Qualifier 1: The top two teams in the points table face off. The winner advances directly to the final, while the loser gets a second shot in Qualifier 2.

Eliminator: Teams finishing third and fourth play this knockout game, with the winner advancing to Qualifier 2.

Qualifier 2: The loser of Qualifier 1 meets the winner of the Eliminator to determine the second finalist.

Final: The winners of Qualifier 1 and Qualifier 2 face off to crown the champion.

Fixtures

Eliminator: Wednesday @ 6pm: Auto Investments North West Dragons v World Sports Betting Western Province – DP World Wanderers, Johannesburg

Qualifier 2: Friday @ 6pm: Momentum Multiply Titans v TBC – SuperSport Park, Centurion

Final: Sunday @ 2.30pm: DP World Lions v TBC – DP World Wanderers, Johannesburg