Lions to host Warriors in Four-Day domestic final

The DP World Lions will host the Eastern Province Warriors in the Four-Day series final at the Wanderers starting next Wednesday.

The Warriors emerged on the wrong side of their match in the last set of round-robin fixtures, losing by two wickets to the KZN Dolphins at Kingsmead on Thursday afternoon. That loss meant the Warriors, who entered the last round at the top of the table, slipped to second place.

Nevertheless it is their second shot at a trophy this season, after they won the domestic T20 Challenge in Paarl against Boland in November. In addition to the Sunrisers Eastern Cape claiming the SA20 crown, it continues what has been a superb season for cricket in the region.

It was a case of mixed emotions for the Dolphins who finished 0.3 points behind the Warriors, and will rue missed opportunities with the ball, picking up just three bowling bonus points, and after being dismissed for 253 in their first innings, they earned only 3.06 points for batting.

The Lions produced the most dominant team performance of the season, thumping the bottom-placed KZN-Inland Tuskers by an innings and 270 runs in three days at the Bullring, to secure first place and ultimately hosting rights for the final.

Wiaan Mulder served up one the greatest individual performances seen for many seasons in South Africa, finishing the match with 12 wickets and a stunning 115 in the Lions’ innings.

“It was super special. It was my first 10-for, which is not really something I thought I’d ever get,” said Mulder, who claimed a remarkable 7/6 in the Tusker’s first innings, in which they were bowled out for 63 and followed that with 5/39 in the second innings.

“Whenever you get a hundred at the Wanderers, it means so much. You look at the (honours) boards in the changeroom, those are proper cricketers, so it is very special,” he added.

Heading into the last round of fixtures, the Lions knew they needed a huge haul of bonus points to emerge from a pack of five teams chasing the top two spots.

After quickly dismissing the Tuskers on the first morning, for a full house of four bowling points, they picked up 7.98 points with the bat, in a thunderous display in which they scored at more than five runs an over for the majority of the innings, finishing on 558/5 declared.

Besides Mulder, there were also hundreds from Connor Esterhuizen — his 101 was scored off only 58 balls — and skipper Dominic Hendricks, who made 115, while Zubayr Hamza made 98 and Wandile Makwetu 89.

In Paarl, Boland beat North West by five wickets in a late finish thanks to Gavin Kaplan’s fourth century of the campaign. Kaplan scored an unbeaten 144 to anchor Boland’s successful pursuit of 323 in the fourth innings.

The two finalists met in the penultimate round of matches last week, playing out a draw in Gqeberha. The Lions have had a grip on the Four Day title in the past two seasons, winning it outright in 2023/24 and then earning a share last season, after drawing a rain-interrupted final with the Titans.

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