Zaahier Adams
THE Lions have rubber-stamped their dominance of South African domestic cricket by winning the CSA T20 Challenge championship title at the Wanderers yesterday.
Having already secured the CSA 4-Day Series trophy, the double was secured with a comfortable seven-wicket victory over the Dolphins. It was the second successive year the KwaZulu-Natal side have finished runners-up in the T20 Challenge after losing last season’s final to the Titans.
The Lions, though, are fully deserving of the title as they have been the most consistent team in the competition after also topping the table after the group phase.
Nobody epitomises the Lions’ consistency and class more than opener Reeza Hendricks. For the umpteenth time in his career, Hendricks played an innings of substance when his team needed it most with the opener masterminding the Lions’ run chase with an undefeated 73 off 53 balls.
It is almost scandalous that in some circles Hendricks is still not regarded as an automatic choice to face the new ball when the Proteas get their ICC T20 World Cup campaign under way in New York.
The 34-year-old's numbers are staggering – both at international and domestic level – over the past two years. Hendricks’ record in domestic finals throughout his career also indicates a player that thrives in the big moments.
The copybook to his success is the fact that he goes about his business without taking much risk. But he also shows no mercy when a bowler over-pitches as Daryn Dupavillion did yesterday, which Hendricks dispatched into the Centurion stand with disdain.
A further element of the Lions’ success is the incredible depth within their squad. It is a factor no team in South Africa can compete with and it showed in the final once more.
The Dolphins chipped away by picking up the key wickets of Ryan Rickelton (18), Rassie van der Dussen (6) and Temba Bavuma (7) to give themselves a sniff of defending their 165/8. But that only brought Wiaan Mulder to the crease. The all-rounder’s game has grown substantially since his successful period with Leicestershire in the English County Championship and he was the ideal partner for Hendricks out in the middle.
After absorbing the initial pressure exerted by the Dolphins, Mulder broke free with a couple of sixes in a calculated assault on seamer Okuhle Cele.
Mulder was the perfect foil for Hendricks as he finished with an unbeaten 55 – the coup de grace coming with a six that sailed over the square cover boundary that brought up both the winning runs and the all-rounder's half century.
The Hendricks-Mulder partnership yielded 85 runs as the Lions cruised over the line with 14 balls to spare.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Dolphins’ innings was a stop-start affair after Khaya Zondo (37 off 25 balls) raced out of the blocks before Jason Smith provided late impetus with 51 off 33 balls.
In between, the Lions kept a stranglehold on proceedings with captain Bjorn Fortuin (2/24) and seamer Codi Yusuf (2/16) keeping a lid on proceedings.
Impressive young leg-spinner Nqaba Peter (1/42) did not enjoy the best of finals after Smith got hold of him by striking the 21-year-old for 24 in a single over, but he did manage to get the all-important wicket of Zondo when he trapped the opener LBW.
The Lions' victory brings to a close an elongated 2023-24 domestic summer, but the men in clad in yellow and blue will certainly remember it fondly for years to come.