22 April 2025, Johannesburg
As Steve Waugh said, steely Hamza enjoyed the pressure of the final.
Inspirational former Australian captain Steve Waugh said “the key to handling pressure is to enjoy it” and DP World Lions star Zubayr Hamza certainly took that to heart during his great century in the CSA 4-Day Series final against the Titans at our iconic DP World Wanderers Stadium last weekend.
Hamza stroked an exceptional 103 off 198 deliveries, spending five-and-three-quarter hours at the crease, as he ensured the decision to bat first after winning the toss bore fruit. Hamza was the foundation stone of the DP World Lions’ total of 413 for seven declared, which enabled them to enforce the follow-on against the Titans. Unfortunately #ThePrideOfJozi ran out of time to clinch an outright victory and had to share the trophy due to the four sessions being lost at the start of the game because of a wet outfield, and bad light cutting short every day’s play.
“It was evident when we lost one-and-a-half day’s play that we needed to bat once and bat big. When we did eventually get on the field on day two, I got a directive from Jimmy Kgamadi [assistant coach] and Hashim Amla [batting coach], who said I must spend the most time at the crease,” Hamza explained.
“After that, I just tried to serve as the glue for the innings, allowing the other guys to bat around me. They were able to be more free-flowing and they really put the pressure on the Titans.
“It was very special for me to play that innings in the final and it required a lot of graft, but that actually made it more enjoyable. I’ve been in good touch this season and I just needed to push through the tricky times. I’ve made lots of scores around sixty this season, but I really wanted to push on to get a decent total.
“It was all about building partnerships, for which you need the support of the other guy. When they came in, it was just a matter of navigating the next few overs and then we could stay firm and push on to a good position,” Hamza said.
The holder of eight Test caps put on 52 for the second wicket with Josh Richards (38), 109 for the third with Mitchell van Buuren (73), 66 for the fourth wicket with Connor Esterhuizen (33), and 40 for the fifth wicket with Wandile Makwetu (26).
Martin Crowe, the great New Zealand batsman who was a contemporary of Waugh, said “Every century I scored was a collective victory for the team”, and Hamza’s thoughts also turned to the great culture within the DP World Lions squad as a unit.
“The team always takes preference over individual goals, which is why our work ethic is so high. We take enjoyment from the fight and never give up, that’s what we enjoy. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my move to the DP World Wanderers and the high expectations in terms of standards and work ethic.
“I feel like I’ve ticked those and I’ve fitted in nicely, which is important for me. It was a seamless move and the cricket has been of the standard expected. It’s been tough, not easy, getting the results we’ve achieved together,” Hamza said after finishing the campaign as the DP World Lions’ leading run-scorer with 528 at 58.66.
Although #ThePrideofJozi were not able to pull off the win, needing 127.5 overs to bowl out the Titans in their follow-on innings, captain Dominic Hendricks was satisfied with the stout effort his bowlers put in on what had become a pitch very friendly to batsmen.
“It was a hard-fought final day and the bowlers dug deep. It had become a really good wicket and taking 20 wickets in the match was never going to be easy. But the Titans never got away from us, we always felt in control, which was the key. So I was 80% happy with the last-day bowling, the other 20% we could put down to fatigue, which is okay.
“But the intensity they brought with the ball in the first innings was special to watch. Both Allan Donald and Albie Morkel [the respective teams’ bowling coaches] said it was some Test match intensity late on the third day.
“It was a whole performance, not down to one person, like the whole season has been. The workload has been shared just like the wickets have been shared all summer. Zubayr has been our most consistent batsman, Bjorn made runs again and Delano Potgieter also made important runs. Bjorn then took a five-for on the last day.
“But the weather got the better of us, there was not much more we could do. If there had been more time then we definitely would have got the result we wanted. But I’m really happy with the campaign,” Hendricks said.