Johannesburg – 12 March 2026:
It has been a remarkable and top-class performance by our DP World Lions ladies team to finish first on the log in both the 50-over and T20 competitions, but in order to secure a trophy at the end of it all, they know that they will have to produce a weekend of cricket better than anything else they have put together this season.
Our DP World Lions have to play the finals at a neutral venue at Kingsmead in Durban, and they will take on Western Province, in both matches to decide the destination of the trophies. It is the first time that the women’s premier league competitions will be decided by a final, the log standings previously being used to determine the winners of the tournaments.
New head coach Sandile Masengemi is a demanding man and he quite rightly points out that, as massive a performance as it was to finish top of the log in both competitions, failure to win this weekend in Durban will make the 2025/26 season a campaign of disappointment.
“It’s been a brilliant season for us, both in the one-dayers and in the T20. Now we have two more games left and they are the crucial ones. At the end of the day, we haven’t won anything, so we can’t get too excited because we’ve only done half the job. Our mindset is to not get too far ahead of ourselves because we haven’t won anything yet,” Masengemi says. “The fact that we haven’t played our best cricket yet is a positive, we haven’t been at our best yet and that is a good place to be heading into the finals. We are eager to be clinical in all three skills and it’s all about how you finish and we want to be the best.” In a major bit of good news for our DP World Lions, international star Shabnim Ismail has returned like a bird flying to these shores in summer migration and one of world cricket’s greatest fast bowlers will have a key role to play, not just in terms of when she has the white ball in her hands, but in keeping the mood positive and focused.
“Shabnim will be available for both finals and she is a big factor as a strike bowler. But there will also be a lot of nerves on the weekend, not too many players have been in a final before. So Shabnim and Sunette Viljoen-Louw, with her experience in Olympic finals, will have key roles. Plus Fay Cowling and Diara Ramlakan have played in a World Cup final with the Proteas U19s. So we have got a bit of experience on how to calm ourselves, so we can go into the finals with confidence, trust our processes and focus on ourselves,” Masengemi says.
“We would obviously have been happier playing at the DP World Wanderers Stadium, but we feel we have covered all our bases no matter where we play, especially with the bowling, where we have pace, medium pace and spin. We are able to adjust to different conditions.
“The challenge will come more for the batters because of the slower pace of the pitch at Kingsmead. We will need to be clever and not play high-risk cricket, try to hit the pockets and run hard. We need to get a base first, and then we can go for boundaries. “The team that does the simple things for the longest will come out on top and I believe we will be fine playing in Durban. We won both matches there when we last played at Kingsmead and that was against a very decent Dolphins side,” Masengemi says.
Squad – Diara Ramlakan, Madison Landsman, Razeena Manack, Jenna Evans, Sunette Viljoen-Louw, Raisibe Ntozakhe, Fay Cowling, Kgomotso Rapoo, Sarah Nettleton, Lehlohonolo Meso, Rehelobile Mkhize, Refilwe Moncho, Neo Molefe, Shabnim Ismail.