Jonker puts Lions to the sword

with Jonker blasting three sixes in an over which had started with a no-ball for height and eventually finished with 27 runs conceded.

Up until that stage, the Lions had created sufficient pressure through spinners Eddie Leie and Aaron Phangiso and pushed the required rate up to 10 runs an over.

A double strike by Hardus Viljoen in the 13th over, in which he removed David White and Colin Ackerman, had seemingly swung the match in the visiting side’s favour, but Jonker’s sensa- tional striking in the 16th over changed all that.

Earlier, the Lions had given themselves an excellent chance at winning, with Mangaliso Mosehle once more underlining his value with an adventurous knock of 49 that gave his side’s innings some much-needed impetus

Backing up his half-century against the Cape Cobras in Potchefstroom last week, Mosehle took what had been a limp showing initially and yanked the Lions to a defendable score, timing the ball excellently after the top order had struggled early on.

Although the Lions started solidly with openers Rassie van der Dussen and Dominic Hendricks putting on 64, the partnership lacked intent and the Warriors were content in the first half of the innings as long as the pair weren’t scoring boundaries.

Just four fours and a six came during that stand and while grateful for the platform, the Lions were badly in need of some urgency by the time Van der Dussen was bowled by Jon-Jon Smuts for 29.

In the circumstances, Mosehle’s was a timely innings and once he’d assessed the sluggish pace of the pitch, he quickly got stuck into the Warriors’ bowling.

Successive sixes off Colin Ackerman in the 14th over kick-started the Lions’ innings and with Nicky van den Bergh cleverly feeding Mosehle the strike, the Lions were able to set a competitive target.

Mosehle was caught at long on for 49 off 28 balls that included four fours and two sixes.

Smuts was the pick of the bowlers on a surface that gave assistance to all the spinners as he finished with figures of 2/15 from his four overs.

Cameron Delport shone with bat and ball for the second time in three games as the Dolphins returned to winning ways with an eight-wicket win over the Knights in Bloemfontein.

The all-rounder, who hit a half-century and took four wickets in their only other win this season, first claimed 3/26 with his medium pace to restrict the hosts to 153/4. He then crashed 36 off 24 balls to lead his side to a comfortable chase after they reached their target with nine balls to spare.

The match between the Titans and Cobras ended in a no-result because of rain.