Johannesburg – 21 October 2025:
The DP World Lions have sailed to the top of the CSA 4-Day Series standings, shouting ‘Ahoy!’ to their rivals with a victory over the Titans at SuperSport Park which gave them a 2.98-point lead after three rounds of the red-ball competition.
Our nine-wicket victory was not always a cruise, however, with the DP World Lions having to work extremely hard to get parity on the first innings.
The Titans won the toss and elected to bat first on a good pitch for batting, and batted through the first session without losing a wicket. After an opening stand of 123, the DP World Lions attack produced a top-class fightback as they reduced the home side to 305 for eight.
The innings was then wrapped up on the second morning for 368 all out. Lutho Sipamla, Siya Plaatjie, Delano Potgieter and Bjorn Fortuin took two wickets apiece, while Reeza Hendricks took two exceptional catches at slip.
Openers Josh Richards (54) and Dominic Hendricks (79) then calmly went about an opening stand of 85, before our local rivals then picked up three rather fortunate wickets.
Richard Seletswane (14) and Connor Esterhuizen (17) helped captain Hendricks steady the ship, but then two wickets fell in the space of four deliveries and, at 189 for six, #ThePrideOfJozi’s first-innings reply definitely needed some attention.
But then yet again for the DP World Lions cometh the man, Delano Potgieter. The 29-year-old all-rounder does not always get the adulation he deserves, and he produced an innings of great determination, peppered with lovely strokeplay. The left-hander was solid as a rock for the rest of the second day, reaching 41 not out as he and Fortuin (38*) added 80 runs to take our DP World Lions to 269 for six at stumps.
Unfortunately Fortuin was bowled with the third ball of the third day, leaving the Lions in excess of 90 runs behind with just three wickets remaining.
But Codi Yusuf then struck a breezy 44 off 64 deliveries, without taking any major risks, as he and Potgieter batted superbly to add 79 for the eighth wicket and ensure the second innings would start pretty much all-square. Potgieter, trying to come back for a second run when nine wickets were down, was run out for 99, falling just short of a second consecutive century after his epic 169 not out the previous week against the Dolphins in Durban. He had stroked 10 handsome boundaries and faced 196 balls.
Fast bowler Siya Plaatjie then stepped up to make himself a Lions hero on his debut for #ThePrideOfJozi. It is not flattery to say he was absolutely devastating as he ripped through the Titans batting with an incredible spell of four wickets in seven overs late on the third afternoon. With Yusuf, Sipamla and spinner Fortuin all applying superb pressure as well, the Titans had slumped to 142 for nine at stumps. The DP World Lions acquired the last wicket of the innings, 20 balls into the final day, as Fortuin trapped last man Janco Smit lbw for a single, giving the orthodox left-armer excellent figures of three for 38 in 16.1 overs. Plaatjie finished with five for 64 in 15 overs, a special effort indeed which won him the Man of the Match award.
With the Titans adding 16 runs to their total to finish on 158 all out, our DP World Lions needed 141 to win. Openers Richards and Hendricks were once again immune to all the Titans threw at them, even with the pitch starting to deteriorate and there being a slight deficiency in even bounce.
Teams chasing a small target can sometimes fall into an over-cautious syndrome, but both batsmen’s games seem to be in top condition as they scored freely, adding 133 in just 22 overs.
Richards, in particular, is developing fantastic fluidity to his batting and he raced to 61 off 66 deliveries, with 10 fours and two sixes, before being caught at slip with victory in sight. Hendricks typically did not go chasing after anything, but was clinical in scoring 65 not out off 79 balls, with nine fours and a six.
With a healthy haul of 25.38 bonus points, our DP World Lions have now returned home to take on the Dragons in Johannesburg from Tuesday. Having started their campaign with three away games, #ThePrideOfJozi will be aching to get back to the prestigious DP World Wanderers Stadium to take on their North-West neighbours.
The Dragons were well-beaten by eight wickets by Western Province in Cape Town, breaking their run of back-to-back victories and allowing the DP World Lions to take first spot on the log from them.
The last time North-West played at the DP World Wanderers Stadium, the Lions were unable to chase down a fourth-innings target of just 80 as the weather restricted them to just five overs of batting.