Johannesburg – 14 February 2026:
An inspired all-round performance by Wiaan Mulder led our DP World Lions into a third successive CSA 4-Day Series final at home as they ended the round-robin phase of the competition by beating the Tuskers this week at the DP World Wanderers Stadium.
The DP World Lions not only notched up victory by an innings and 270 runs – the second-largest winning margin by an innings in the history of the CSA 4-Day Series – but also gathered 27.98 bonus points, the most any team has managed this season.
That saw them leapfrog from third place in the standings going onto the final round into first spot, meaning they will host the final at the DP World Wanderers Stadium from Wednesday to Sunday. Their opponents will be the Warriors, who slipped from first to second after their defeat in Durban to the Dolphins. The North-West Dragons were also ahead of the Lions, second on the log, before they lost to Boland in Paarl.
Proteas star Mulder was at the centre of the immaculate display from #ThePrideOfJozi. He produced extraordinary figures of 6.5-4-6-7, the cheapest seven-wicket haul in the history of Transvaal/Gauteng/Lions cricket, serving to utterly destroy the Tuskers first innings after they had won the toss and elected to bat first.
After Codi Yusuf and Lutho Sipamla had both taken wickets in fantastic opening spells, Mulder came on to bowl first-change with the KZN Inland team on 29 for two.
Keeping to an outstanding line and length, and showing superb skill in terms of getting swing and movement off the pitch, miracle man Mulder struck with his 10th delivery, trapping Kent’s prolific opener Ben Compton lbw with a delivery that nipped back into the left-hander.
Helped by some very good catching behind the wicket, Mulder continued to produce first-rate deliveries that had the Tuskers groping in uncertainty outside their off-stumps. Three wickets in his seventh and final over saw the visitors bundled out for just 63, their lowest ever four-day score, and gave the 27-year-old career-best figures.
Our DP World Lions actually had to come out and bat for one over before lunch on the first morning, and thereafter, captain Dominic Hendricks and Zubayr Hamza went about building an excellent platform for the crucial first-innings chase for batting bonus points to add to the full house of four bowling points they picked up in just 22.5 overs. Showing outstanding judgement and clinical skill, they scored at around four runs an over throughout their second-wicket stand of 179, the best in four-day cricket at the DP World Wanderers Stadium. Hendricks went to his record sixth century at the iconic venue, and 10th for the Lions, in the last hour of play on the first day, becoming the leading four-day run-scorer at the Bullring as well as going past 10 000 runs in all first-class cricket. The left-hander eventually fell 20 minutes before stumps for a determined 115 off 170 balls, with 18 fours, which set the perfect platform for his team.
Hamza stroked 98 off 156 balls, punishing anything wayward from the bowlers in his customarily elegant style. He fell just short of his second hundred of the season when he was bowled by a delivery that jagged back into him from sixth bowler Andile Mogakane.
Wandile Makwetu and Mulder took our DP World Lions to 259 for three at stumps on the first day, already leading by 196 runs and with 7.18 bonus points in the bag.
Mulder hit fast bowler Daryn Dupavillon for two fours in the first over of the second day to set the tone for another utterly dominant morning session for the former prodigy who played for #ThePrideofJozi while he was still a schoolboy.
Makwetu, playing his first match since the T20 Challenge, was the initial aggressor though, getting to his fifty off just 58 balls, and was in great free-flowing touch as he finished with an at times dazzling 89 off just 98 deliveries.
Mulder went to his fifty off 63 balls and then hit top gear, lashing 65 runs off his next 48 balls, with nine fours and six sixes, playing some heavenly strokes as he showed he is fit to be considered South Africa’s best batting all-rounder.
Mulder was dismissed by left-arm spinner Sean Whitehead for 115 soon after lunch, but that allowed Connor Esterhuizen to take the limelight in the afternoon.
Cementing his position at the top of the averages (110.85), Esterhuizen lashed 101 not out off only 58 deliveries, the quickest century in the history of the four-day competition, with six fours and seven sixes. It was an innings which showcased the great talent of the 24-year-old and it took the DP World Lions to 499 for five in 100 overs, the rich haul of 7.98 batting points ensuring they would be in the final if they completed the victory over the next two-and-a-half days.
Our DP World Lions only needed less than three sessions to wrap up the commanding victory as the incredible Mulder once again took a terrible toll on the Tuskers batting.
KZN Inland started well enough after lunch on the second day, their openers putting on 56 for the first wicket, as #ThePrideOfJozi suffered a fearful moment with Sipamla limping off the field after bowling 4.5 overs.
Spinner Bjorn Fortuin made the breakthrough and the visitors then suffered a horrible collapse as Mulder took three wickets in the space of eight balls, reducing them to 69 for four. One of the nicest people you could hope to meet continued to be a dreadful bully to the Tuskers as he completed his five-wicket haul with the last delivery of the day, finishing with match figures of 12 for 45, the fifth best in first-class cricket at the DP World Wanderers Stadium, to go with his century. It is probably the greatest ever all-round performance in the proud history of Lions/Gauteng/Transvaal cricket with only two other players ever scoring a century and taking 10 wickets in a match for the team – two all-time greats in Aubrey Faulkner (110 & 10-166 v Western Province at Newlands in 1908/09) and Clive Rice (101 & 11-112 v Western Province at Wanderers in 1975/76). Only one other player has managed a similar feat in the top division of South African domestic first-class cricket, and that was the leg-spinning Test all-rounder Xenophon Balaskas who scored 132 and took 11 wickets for Griqualand West against Eastern Province and then made 101 and took 12 wickets versus Western Province in back-to-back matches in Kimberley in his golden summer of 1929/30 when he scored the most runs and took the most wickets in the Currie Cup.
The poor old Tuskers were eventually dismissed for 225 on the third morning as spinners Fortuin (20.4-4-50-3) and Nqaba Peter (16-4-42-2) wrapped up the innings.
Captain Hendricks saluted his team for the way they bounced back to seal a home final after suffering a chastening home defeat to the Dragons and then being held to two draws by bad weather had left them in a poor position to defend their title.
“I’m very proud of my team and of course Mr Mulder. It was obviously going to be challenging this week with all the permutations and we were unsure of what we needed to get to with the bat, what scoring rate we needed. But it worked out perfectly.
“It was important with the bat that we needed to set up the innings and Josh Richards and I saw out the first seven overs and then your number three can get in and look to dominate. Zubayr and I bat really well together, especially in terms of tempo, we’re able to swap around and go with the ebb and flow.
“Once you’ve got momentum then it’s so much easier to score quickly and you don’t allow the spinners to settle. The plan was to bat normally for 80 overs and Wandile played a gem of an innings. For someone who has not played much to put up that performance, I was very chuffed for him.
“Whenever Wiaan is available for us he just wants to do everything. That eagerness shows his commitment and that he really loves playing for this team, and how influential he is in our game. He wants to influence the game all the time and he showed how good a player he is. He was unbelievable on the first day and then he just took that momentum into the next day.
“As a team, everyone is in a good space. The seamers are all on it and our two spinners bowled well too. We sure earned our day off,” a delighted Hendricks said.