The DP World Lions men's team overtook all their opponents at the final corner and, after an impressive win over the Titans on the sporty Centurion pitch last week, will now host Western Province in the CSA 4-day series final .
After a few frustrating draws, our Pride paid off when it really mattered, defeating the Titans by five wickets at the end of the final round of the league to take top spot in the league. DP World Lions' red-ball game is currently running like a finely tuned engine, dominating and remaining unbeaten in all four days of matches since losing to the Warriors in Gukebela in early December.
The pitch at SuperSport Park certainly favored the bowlers, but DP World Lions head coach Russell Domingo was happy with the surface and wanted a pitch that would have given a different result, but one that was fair to the batsmen. He said he was looking forward to it.
“They were great against the Titans in a game that I thought was good pitching. I was really happy with the way we played and now we can carry that confidence into the final. On a flat pitch. We've been playing some really good cricket lately, even though we've struggled to finish teams off. All I want now for the home final is some good cricket wickets. Good batting will be rewarded. It's a wicket where you can get wickets if you bowl well. I always advocate that because I believe players need to learn how to play long innings and how to get rid of batsmen with good pitches. We don't want anything extreme and we believe we can see results in as little as five days.”
With the current bowling corps in very good form, with Luso Sipamula making an impressive return last week and Duane Olivier and Tshepo Moleki available again after Test duty for the Proteas in New Zealand, Domingo will once again be available. They might toy with the idea of fielding five. Bjorn Fortuyn, seamstress and spinner.
In particular, Zubair Hamza, who has the highest average in the tournament, is scheduled to return after his test stint, and Themba Bavuma may also be able to play depending on his rehabilitation schedule, so the batting line-up should be confident of scoring enough runs.