Johannesburg – 13 December 2025:
In professional sport, today is usually the only day that matters and our DP World Lions Ladies will be eager to seize the moment in their last HollywoodBets ProSeries weekend of action this year as they take on the KZN Dolphins in Durban.
With Christmas and the New year just around the corner, and a long break until their next game (on February 14), it would be easy for minds to be drifting towards other things. But Sandile Masengemi, head coach of #ThePrideOfJozi, has stressed the importance of this weekend’s Pro20 and Pro50 matches against the Dolphins and is demanding just two more days of focus before the ladies go on holiday.
The double bonus point wins over North-West in Potchefstroom last weekend have left the DP World Lions in real contention in both competitions at the end of the first half of fixtures. They are seven points behind the KwaZulu-Natalians in the one-day standings but have a game in hand. While in the T20 tournament, they are in second place, five points behind Western Province and five points ahead of the Dolphins.
So this weekend’s matches against their in-form hosts are understandably crucial.
“How we’re looking at these games is that they are really important and this is our first match of the second half of the season, even though we don’t play again until February. But it’s important that we start the second half well, and if we lose this weekend, then there might not be time to catch up,” Masengemi said after his team’s arrival at a cloudy and humid Durban on Friday.
“We were good against North-West, even though we had a couple of challenges with injuries. They were important games for us to make sure we took the points and take care of our log position. I was very happy the batters stepped up and the bowlers were great as well.
“Youngsters are contributing in the batting, which is great because we don’t have that much experience there. The fact that the newer players are chipping in is a big positive and it shows that we are heading in the right direction,” Masengemi said.
The likes of Neo Molefe, Jenna Evans, Fay Cowling, Diara Ramlakan, Madison Landsman, Relebohile Mkhize (who is unfortunately out this weekend with concussion), Refilwe Moncho and Sarah Nettleton have all showed that they are the stars of tomorrow.
But it’s all about this weekend for Masengemi and trying to ensure he brings silverware to the DP World Wanderers Stadium at the end of his first season in charge. With the Dolphins being strong title contenders themselves, the coach is also relying on tried-and-tested, world-class talent.
Proteas stars Ayabonga Khaka and Chloe Tryon, as well as the evergreen Sunette Viljoen-Louw and Raisibe Ntozakhe, will use their experience to keep #ThePrideOfJozi’s performance and intensity on-point.
“The Dolphins play well as a unit and they have good plans and belief in their squad. So we’re going to have to make sure our disciplines are good and we reach our KPIs. We need to bowl as tight as possible and the batting will be all about partnerships and hopefully having one batter in the top-order batting through.
“We will focus on our processes, but I think skill-for-skill we should be good. Kingsmead helps the spinners usually and our spinners have been in very good form. Raisibe, Kgomotso Rapoo and Sarah must just keep doing what they’ve been doing and squeeze the opposition. Our plans revolve around pressure,” Masengemi said.
Squad: Ayabonga Khaka, Madison Landsman, Refilwe Moncho, Raisibe Ntozakhe, Jenna Evans, Sunette Viljoen-Louw, Fay Cowling, Kgomotso Rapoo, Sarah Nettleton, Razeena Manack, Chloe Tryon, Neo Molefe, Lehlohonolo Meso, Diara Ramlakan.