Johannesburg, 19 October 2026

Our DP World Lions ladies were probably feeling a little tender after their Jukskei derby last weekend but responded in superb fashion with an outstanding bowling display the next time they took the field, beating Western Province Cobras comfortably in their HollywoodBets Pro50 Series match at Old Eds at the weekend.

The Western Province Cobras batting line-up, which included seven Proteas, was made soft up front by the magnificent fast bowling of Shabnim Ismail and the sheer mastery of skill and control that Ayabonga Khaka possesses.

While Khaka produced an immaculate opening spell of five overs, three of which were maidens, for just 10 runs, Ismail made the first two incisions in the WP batting order. Lara Goodall (3) was set up beautifully by a string of perfectly-pitched back-of-a-length deliveries just outside the left-hander’s off-stump and then skewed the fuller ball to Karabo Meso at point.

Faye Tunnicliffe also fell to Ismail’s brilliant control of length, the veteran fast bowler forcing her to prod outside off-stump and be caught behind for 10.

Fellow pace bowler Leani Swanepoel may be young in years (19) but she showed great maturity when she came on to bowl first change and did not release the pressure at all, bowling five tight overs for just 13 runs, finding the blockhole impressively on her List A debut.

Ismail claimed her third wicket in the 13th over when Delmi Tucker (4) edged a lovely away-swinger and was skilfully caught at slip by Madison Landsman, low down in front of herself.

And then Raisibe Ntozakhe entered the fray and proved that she is still as good as ever. Showing remarkable consistency in bowling an off-side line, with just little variations in pace and length, ‘Slice’ ripped through the WP middle-order and took a remarkable five for 21 in her nine overs.

Ntozakhe began her destruction of the Cobras batting line-up by removing their top-scorer, Proteas star Nadine de Klerk (37), who stepped outside off-stump to target the leg-side and was out-thought and caught at deep backward square-leg by the nimble Khaka.

Two balls later, Oluhle Siyo was trapped plumb lbw for a duck and the visitors had slumped to 83 for six when Chloe Tryon bowled Kayla Reyneke for a duck in the next over.

Ntozakhe then broke a partnership of 38 for the seventh wicket by trapping a sweeping Leah Jones lbw for 36 and later adding the scalp of Meike de Ridder (15), making a tricky return catch look easy.

She added one more wicket from the tail, with Swanepoel getting the well-deserved final wicket as WP Cobras were bowled out for just 137. Such was the quality, control and discipline of our DP World Lions attack.

Tazmin Brits (19 off 18) and Madison Landsman ensured #ThePrideOfJozi were off to a brisk start, scoring 63 runs in the first powerplay, but there were slight wobbles along the way as they lost their fourth wicket five balls into the second powerplay.

But Landsman and Fay Cowling combined to take our DP World Lions to the brink of victory with a fifth-wicket stand of 72 off 86 balls.

The 19-year-old Cowling batted with a lot of responsibility as she scored 24 off 43 deliveries with just one boundary, ensuring that the DP World Lions had the one substantial partnership they needed to win with a bonus point.

Landsman, who came to the wicket in the second over, batted through with a determined 48 not out off 64 balls, with seven fours as she showed some fine strokeplay. Her effort took the DP World Lions to 140 for five in 25.5 overs.

On Sunday, in their HollywoodBets Pro20 Series match at the DP World Wanderers Stadium, WP Cobras elected to bat first and Shabnin Ismail was once again venomous with the new ball as she took three wickets with her first eight deliveries to reduce the visitors to 10 for three.

They were able to build a couple of decent middle-order partnerships though to post 133 for seven. Ismail finished with three for 18 in her four overs, while Sarah Nettleton took two for 21 in three. Fellow spinners Tryon (4-0-21-0) and Ntozakhe (4-0-27-0) were both economical.

The DP World Lions struggled to maintain momentum at the start of their innings, scoring just 18 for two in the powerplay, but Cowling again stood tall with the bat, stroking a composed 32 off 21 balls.

She added 46 for the fourth wicket with Sunette Viljoen-Louw, who anchored the chase and ensured that the DP World Lions were still in the hunt needing 32 runs off 20 balls.

Sadly, they then lost two wickets in three balls, and despite Viljoen-Louw’s valiant 41 not out and 20 runs being scored off the last two overs, our DP World Lions finished just seven runs short.

DP World Lions squad: Tazmin Brits, Razeena Manack, Madison Landsman, Karabo Meso, Chloe Tryon, Sunette Viljoen-Louw, Sarah Nettleton, Raisibe Ntozakhe, Ayabonga Khaka, Kgomotso Rapoo, Relebohile Mkhize, Neo Molefe, Mieke van Voorst, Shabnim Ismail.