Johannesburg – 2 October 2025:
Swanepoel well aware of the different level at Lions.
Beyers Swanepoel is likely to make his debut for the DP World Lions men’s team from Thursday as they start their 2025/26 campaign with a four-day match against Western Province at Newlands. The all-rounder says he has a sharpened awareness of the different level he wants to take his cricket to this season.
#ThePrideOfJozi won the four-day competition in 2023/24 and were then forced to share the title last season after a final they dominated was severely curtailed by the weather.
Swanepoel arrives in Johannesburg having been a star performer for the Warriors in recent years. In his three seasons based at St George’s Park, the right arm seam and swing bowler took 89 wickets in 19 matches at an astonishing average of just 16.88. That included seven hauls of five wickets in an innings and he twice took 10 in a match.
He took home the South African Cricketers’ Association’s MVP award for the 2022/23 season and was also named Four-Day Domestic Series Player of the Season. Swanepoel is also a dangerous lower-order batsman who has a first-class average of 27.00.
But while he has been chosen for the SA A side, the 27-year-old is yet to receive a call-up for the Proteas, something he hopes will change through him excelling with the DP World Lions.
“I had some teams chasing me again but the DP World Lions obviously stood out. They’ve played some amazing cricket for the last couple of years and the CEO [Jono Leaf-Wright] does incredible work behind the scenes. For me, they are not one of the best unions, they are the best.
“I’m really looking forward to the season and rubbing shoulders with Russell Domingo, Allan Donald and the Mighty Hash [Hashim Amla] for my batting. I’m going to tap into every single one of them because they have all excelled at the highest level. I was privileged to have the opportunity to come to Johannesburg and I’m absolutely stoked to be here. The pre-season went really well and it’s a different level of hard work here, it was mind-blowing to see how they operate.
“So I hope the change of scenery will bring a national call-up because it’s always been my dream to go up to international level. The DP World Lions have produced a lot of Proteas and it will definitely enhance my chances playing here. The cricket they play here is closer to international level and I need to step up to put myself in that frame,” Swanepoel said.
The last time #ThePrideOfJozi played Western Province in a four-day game at Newlands was in November 2023 when they won by 106 runs. Mitchell van Buuren produced a great innings of 170 in the first innings to set up the game, Duanne Olivier then took five wickets to give the DP World Lions a 131-run first-innings lead and Ryan Rickelton’s brisk unbeaten century then rammed home the advantage. Spinner Bjorn Fortuin and all-rounder Wiaan Mulder then shared nine wickets to complete an awesome victory.
Van Buuren and Fortuin are both in the squad travelling to Cape Town, which has been expanded to 17 because next week the defending champions travel to Durban to play the Dolphins from October 8.
Kwena Maphaka, Swanepoel and Lutho Sipamla is a new-ball attack that has enough firepower and skill to leave batsmen weak at the knees, and Swanepoel said he is confident the weeks of work with bowling coach Donald will pay off in Cape Town.
“The first month of working with AD has really been about sharing knowledge and you can’t say too much about the sum of what he brings to the attack. My skillset is such that I don’t really prefer a certain type of pitch; I adapt to whatever’s in front of me.
“I’m not that quick, but I’m not the slowest, and my skillset is my big advantage. My old home ground of St George’s Park had a bit more in it for the seamers, but I’m not the sort of bowler who needs the ball to be talking. It’s been swinging a lot in the nets though … ” Swanepoel smiled.
Our DP World Lions will take an experienced top three of Dominic Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks and Josh Richards to Newlands, although which pair will open the batting is known only to the team and coaching staff. A good platform will then set things up for an exciting middle-order that could feature Connor Esterhuizen, Van Buuren and Richard Seletswane, while there are plenty of bowlers who can bat in Evan Jones, Fortuin, Swanepoel and Delano Potgieter.
But it is Swanepoel’s debut, which marks a homecoming, which has everyone excited. He was born in Vanderbijlpark and attended D.F. Malherbe Primary School, playing for the Central Gauteng Lions junior sides before moving to Hoerskool Garsfontein and playing for Northerns Schools in 2016. Swanepoel then went to university in Bloemfontein, playing for Free State and Northern Cape, before his Division 1 breakthrough at the Warriors.