Lions’ semis chances hang by a thread

Lions 163/6 Dolphins 167/1 Dolphins won by 9 wickets

AFTER disintegrating with the bat, the Lions produced a lethargic display in the field yesterday, which has left their chances of qualifying for the semi-finals in the Cricket South Africa T20 Challenge hanging by a thread.

It was a woeful showing from a team who were very optimistic about their chances in this season’s domestic T20 competition.

Malusi Siboto’s team, which has been unable to call upon the services of their best bowler, Sisanda Magala, because of his failure to meet CSA’s fitness standards, looked like a team that had enjoyed a festive weekend – and needed another day to recover.

They had provided themselves with a solid foundation with the bat thanks to a 73-run fourth-wicket partnership between Wiaan Mulder and Mitchell van Buuren, which came at a run-rate of nearly nine an over. The problem was they then didn’t finish off well, scoring just 27 runs off the last four overs, losing four wickets in the same period.

Mulder, who made 39 off 27 balls, and Van Buuren, who finally came to the party in the competition, with 42 off 29 deliveries, weren’t able to kick on in the final overs – and it proved costly.

The Lions had loaded their side with bowling options, and so needed one of their top four batters to bat for a substantial part of the innings. All of them got into double figures, but unlike Grant Roelofsen, who has anchored virtually all of the Dolphins’ innings in the tournament, none of the Lions could do so.

The Dolphins’ bowlers, especially Daryn Dupavillon and Ottniel Baartman, deserve credit for their discipline at “the death”, which restricted the Lions to a score that was about 30 runs short of where they should have ended.

Then, despite all those options with the ball, the Lions attack lacked discipline with neither lines nor lengths located with any consistency. The fielding was simply awful.

Roelofsen and opening partner Keegan Petersen shared a stand of 106, with the latter producing some elegant stroke-play in his innings of 73 not out – a career-best effort for him in T20s – that included nine fours and six.

Both teams have just two matches remaining, but the Dolphins, who moved to second on the standings behind the Titans after yesterday’s win, will be feeling much better about their chances of making the semi-finals. The Lions, meanwhile, are still battling to find the right balance with their team – they sit in sixth place and most likely need to win both of their final matches to qualify for the semis.