Johannesburg – 17 December 2025:
Our DP World Lions ladies team put an end to a lean run of results in Durban in emphatic fashion at the weekend when they beat the high-flying Dolphins in both the Pro50 and the T20 match at Kingsmead.
The outstanding performances by #ThePrideOfJozi have lifted them to the top of both logs, although in the HollywoodBets Pro20 Series they are level with points with Western Province but behind on nett run-rate.
Durban has been a very difficult venue for the DP World Lions through the years and they had previously won just three of their last 12 matches there across both formats.
But it was a very different story this last weekend, with the bowling attack, in particular, being superb.
This was most apparent in the Pro20 game as, defending 131, our DP World Lions bowlers made every run dear. Despite only losing four wickets, the Dolphins could only score 129 runs, giving #ThePrideOfJozi a thrilling two-run win. The victory was a bit more comfortable than the margin of runs suggests though, due to a six being hit off the last ball of the innings.
The superbly skilful Ayabonga Khaka (3-0-17-0) bowled three dot balls to end the 18th over and the brilliant Chloe Tryon (4-0-24-2) then removed set batter Alex Candler (58) in the next over. It was the left-arm spinner’s second wicket after she had bowled Asakhe Nyovane in her previous over, that cost just three runs, with a classic delivery that turned past the outside edge to hit off-stump.
Tall, hit-the-deck seamer Fay Cowling came on for the first time in the 12th over and did a superb job by providing the key breakthrough, removing the other chief threat in Yasmeen Khan (44) in her second over, on her way to fine figures of one for 13 in three overs.
Spinner Sarah Nettleton was also excellent, opening the bowling and taking one wicket for just 16 runs in three overs.
Having been sent in to bat, the DP World Lions were in early trouble on 27 for three inside the powerplay, but a fourth-wicket stand of 49 in six-and-a-half overs between Player of the Match Tryon (34 off 28) and ever-reliable Sunette Viljoen-Louw (41 off 38) was where #ThePrideOfJozi gained a key advantage.
The Pro50 victory the day before was emphatic, our DP World Lions winning by 102 runs to earn a bonus point, taking them to the top of the standings, where they have a one-point lead over the Dolphins.
Jenna Evans was the hero of the victory with her defiant and superbly-paced innings of 89 off 112 balls. Coming to the wicket at 19 for two after seven overs, she showed great judgement early on, negotiating a pitch that provided plenty of assistance for the bowlers, scoring just 26 runs off her first 50 deliveries. There was no hint of her becoming flustered by the pressure situation, however, as she gradually built a matchwinning knock. Her second boundary took her to a second successive half-century, off 78 deliveries, and she then accelerated with six fours in her next 34 balls as she added 39 more runs.
No-one else reached 25, with Razeena Manack’s 23 the next highest score. But Evans did have useful partners in Raisibe Ntozakhe (17), who added 45 with her for the fifth wicket, and most notably Khaka, who helped Evans add an important 36 in seven overs for the ninth wicket, after they had slipped to 135 for eight. Khaka’s very handy 19 meant the difference between our DP World Lions being bowled out well short of their 50 overs, and them taking the innings to the final over and posting a competitive score of 192, with Khaka also adding 21 for the last wicket with Lehlohonolo Meso (2*).
Khaka, the canny Proteas veteran, then gave #ThePrideOfJozi the perfect start with the ball as she had Candler, the Dolphins’ leading run-scorer, caught behind in over number one.
Meso (6-0-26-3) then produced one of her greatest spells for the DP World Lions, bowling the other opener, Elandri Janse van Rensburg, with a superb off-cutter that hit the top of middle stump, and then dismissing Yasmeen Khan and Nyovane, bowled by a magnificent delivery that went the other way, beating the outside edge to hit the top of off-stump, in the same over.
In the next over, Khaka (5-2-9-2) flummoxed and dismissed Kwanga Panini and the Dolphins were in a big hole on 27 for five.
Pacer Cowling has bowled with great effect with the older ball this season and she stole the limelight by ending the innings with a hat-trick. The CSA Domestic Newcomer of the Year for last season has the ability to bowl a hard length and use her height to extract awkward bounce, and that’s exactly what she did to wrap up the innings with three wickets in three balls, ending with tremendous figures of three for three in 2.5 overs.