Tensions boil over as Lions close in on Four-Day title

The tension that has been fizzing beneath the surface of this CSA Four-Day final exploded on Sunday afternoon as Bjorn Fortuin and Dewald Brevis had an angry exchange after the latter’s dismissal. 

To the already heady mix that is the final of the Four-Day series being contested by provincial neighbours was added the controversy of the twice-taken toss when play eventually started on Friday. 

The Titans certainly feel they were treated unfairly, with the Lions handed a major advantage when the coin was tossed a second time and fell in the home team’s favour allowing Dominic Hendricks the chance to bat first. 

The Lions have bossed the game since and on Sunday their bowlers were magnificent, raising the intensity and with it their sledging of the opposition. Codi Yusuf, who finished with 4/46 as the Titans were bowled out for 123 in their first innings, let Janco Smit know exactly where he was and that he didn’t appreciate how some of the Lions players had been bounced by the 21-year-old when the home team batted. 

But the moment that inflamed this contest came late in the afternoon. The Lions had rightly enforced the follow-on, knowing it was the only means to victory in a match curtailed by the wet outfield on Thursday and Friday. 

The effects of the dampness could be seen in two scary moments for fielders; the first occurred on Saturday when Titans skipper Neil Brandt, still grumpy about that toss, got his knee stuck in the outfield while diving to make a stop — he was able to carry on, but Lions seamer Tshepo Moreki was not as fortunate, when he did the same later on the fourth day. 

The Lions will see it as a positive that he was able to leave the field under his own strength and will hope that he can recover overnight because they will need all of their bowling resources on the final day, Monday. 

Brevis, who was dismissed first ball by Lutho Sipamla in the first innings, was being typically aggressive, in compiling 26 off only 28 balls, when Sipamla again removed him, this time lbw. 

The decision by umpire Dennis Smith, looked the right one, but Brevis, probably disappointed to get out with the light fading, hung around at the crease. 

Fortuin — who’d swapped words with the young star earlier — told Brevis in no uncertain terms which direction to follow to the changeroom. The batter didn’t take kindly to Fortuin’s advice and gestured for him to say it to his face, an offer the always competitive Fortuin wanted to take up. 

His Lions teammates' initial attempts to pull him away failed, until first Zubayr Hamza and then Yusuf pushed them apart. 

While it may be deemed unedifying in some circles, the incident illustrated the intensity and drive of the teams in the final match of the 2024/25 season. There is R1.5m at stake, but pride and neighbourhood bragging rights are equally as important in a rivalry — that has defined the domestic game for decades. 

Bad light again brought an early end to the day’s play, by which stage the Titans had reached 118/3, with Keegan Petersen matching his first innings half-century with another just a few hours later. 

He will return on Monday on 50 not out in the company of Lhuan-dre Pretorius, who has six, with the Titans — who still trail by 172 runs — now fuelled to try to salvage something from this contest, in which they’ve been second best, by denying the Lions a second title this season.