Warriors, Boland renew rivalry in repeat of last year's final
Last season’s T20 Challenge winners Dafabet Warriors welcome Dafabet Boland to the Dafabet St George’s Park on Thursday evening in the YesPlay Pro20 Cup, in a repeat of 2025’s thrilling decider between the two teams.
The final played at Boland Park in Paarl was one for the history books, with both sides finishing on 142 runs and Warriors edging it marginally in the Super Over to claim the title.
The meeting in Gqeberha this evening will be the first between the sides in a T20 match-up since then, this time with second place in the competition’s Super 8s on the line.
Warriors currently sit just behind leaders DP World Lions, having already won one Super 8s match against YesPlay Cobras by four wickets but are on 16 points due to the points carried over from the games against teams from their own pool in the round robin stage.
In third position lie Boland on 12 points, who have also started the Super 8s on a positive note with a seven-wicket victory over Hollywoodbets Dolphins and know that a bonus-point win here could see them usurp the hosts and exact revenge on a team that took the title form within their fingertips almost a year ago.
On form alone the Western Cape side is ahead going into this battle, having won six of the seven matches played in Pool A, only falling short against Cobras to finish second behind Momentum Multiply Titans.
Their win over Dolphins was also a historic one for the side, having achieved their highest successful run chase in domestic T20 cricket, tracking down their set target of 175 at the Hollywoodbets Kingsmead on Sunday.
Further strengthening their credentials is the fact that Boland have already played a Super Over this season, successfully banishing the demons of last year to beat Titans after both had posted totals of 137 in their 20 allotted overs.
Their opponents ended Pool B in third spot with four wins from the seven played, losing against North West Dragons in the first match of the tournament and shocked by Division 2’s Eastern Cape Iinyathi in their final pool game.
Their encounter with Lions was abandoned without a single delivery bowled due to inclement weather in Gqeberha.
The good news for Warriors is that any sort of win against Boland could lift them up to the summit of the Super 8s table and strengthen their chances of another semi-final berth with two matches to go.
