Sipamla shines as Lions dominate Titans to defend T20 crown

Before there was SA20, there was the Mzansi Super League. And before Kwena Maphaka there was Lutho Sipamla. 

Sipamla was the teen fast bowling sensation who lit up Cricket SA’s lame attempt to join the world of franchise T20 leagues. A few months after earning public acclaim in that tournament, Sipamla was making his international debut. 

His career since has been one injury mishap after another, with some personal troubles thrown in amongst it, and a bit like the Mzansi Super League, he became a forgotten part of SA cricket’s recent history. 

But on Sunday Sipamla, now 26, served up a reminder that there are more chapters about his career that will be scripted. 

While the newest hot property in the game was dishing out what is increasingly looking like the norm for him, including a rapid bouncer that Heinrich Klaasen wanted nothing to do with, Sipamla effectively won the DP World Lions the T20 Challenge final with a stunning spell.

His rhythmic approach and flowing action were perfectly in sync as he claimed a career-best 4/12, which included the wickets of Klaasen and Donovan Ferreira. 

Sipamla had the ball moving off the surface disconcertingly, cleaning up Ferreira with a delivery that reared in at his off stump, while Klaasen, got one that bounced and nipped away, with the ball edged to Lions ‘keeper Conor Esterhuizen.

While there’ll be no demands to ‘get him back in the Proteas asap’ Sipamla’s performance does illustrate that there is more depth in SA’s fast bowling, and if he can back up Sunday with more impact in the Four-Day competition that starts later this week, an addition to his 18 international caps may yet be in the offing. 

Maphaka is very much in the national framework at the moment, and his performance in the final clearly illustrated the reason that is the case. 

He bowled quickly, accurately and used his bouncer smartly, and the five-ball exchange with Klaasen made for intriguing viewing. The respect with which Klaasen defended those deliveries indicated not just the quality of the bowling, but the reputation Maphaka is building domestically. 

He’d already picked up one of the three Titans wickets to fall in the power play before his mini-battle with Klaasen, and returned in the 19th to claim a second. 

As good as both Maphaka and Sipamla were, the Titans will not be impressed with how they played. Their batting malfunctioned worse than the payment system at the stadium’s bars, which crashed leaving many patrons furious. The mood will be similar in the Titans camp — there were a number of soft dismissals; young Lhuan-dre Pretorius driving loosely at Delano Potgieter, Sibz Makhanya clipped Sipamla to midwicket and Rivaldo Moonsamy’s awful waft against the same bowler, came immediately after the power play. 

By the halfway point of their innings they’d already lost six wickets and a final total of 119 was woefully short of being defendable. 

Someone in the top four needed to take responsibility to bat the majority of the innings and the all out attacking strategy just didn’t work on a pitch that offered assistance to the quicks throughout the afternoon. 

The Lions knocked off the target for the loss of two wickets with 29 balls to spare, to successfully defend a title they won at the end of last season. Having already secured one trophy, the goal for a squad with a deep pool of talent, is to chase the other two that are up for grabs.