Lions off the mark with win over Rocks

The DP World Lions broke their duck in the CSA One-Day Cup when they comfortably beat the Gbets Rocks by five wickets in an attritional contest at Boland Park in Paarl on Saturday.

Faced with a target of 241 for victory, the Lions hauled themselves off the bottom of the log as they cruised to victory with 4.5 overs to spare. Opener Josh Richards and Mitchell van Buuren struck half-centuries but all the Lions’ batsmen contributed to the cause.

The profile of the two innings was similar with both teams getting off to brisk starts while the ball was hard, and slowing somewhat as the ball softened on a typically slow Boland Park pitch. The key difference, though, was that whereas the Rocks lost wickets regularly in the second half of their innings, the Lions were smarter, conserving their wickets as they progressed towards their target.

The Rocks, for example, had reached a prosperous 140 for one at the start of the 28th over, but thereafter only added another 100 for the loss of seven wickets as they reached 240 for eight in their 50 overs. The Lions, by contrast, reached the 200 mark with only three wickets down, thanks in part to a fourth-wicket stand of 78 between Zubayr Hamza (35) and Mitchell van Buuren (52). And although Van Buuren was out at the death, Wiaan Mulder (29*) calmly knocked off the remaining runs ending with a superb square cut for six off Achille Cloete.

Earlier in the innings, Richards and a fluent Ryan Rickelton (36 in 41 balls) added 63 for the first wicket with minimum fuss before Rickelton was the victim of a soft dismissal, clouting legspinner Shaun von Berg straight to Janneman Malan on the midwicket boundary.

Richards then featured in another half-century partnership with his captain, Dominic Hendricks (22), before Hamza and Van Buuren came together to effectively seal the match.

The Rocks chose to bat first after winning the toss and Janneman Malan struck an impressive 70 in 91 balls – his 25th List A half-century – to give the home team’s innings a head start.

Malan and Clyde Fortuin put on 89 in 15.2 overs for the first wicket before Fortuin, frustrated by the Lions’ best bowler, left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin, dashed down the pitch and was neatly stumped by wicketkeeper Rickelton.

An increasingly fluent Malan, and an initially hesitant Keegan Petersen then added a further 51 for the second wicket before Malan edged medium-pacer Evan Jones’s first delivery to Rickelton. He had struck seven fours and two sixes in his innings.

It was now up to Petersen to bat through but the diminutive right-hander struggled to time the ball and although he reached a half-century, he was dismissed shortly afterwards, caught on the midwicket boundary, for 50 in 82 balls.

There were cameo contributions thereafter from Michael Copeland (17), Ferisco Adams (17) and Hardus Viljoen, but the middle and late-order batsmen were unable to lift the tempo of the innings after the brisk start.

Fortuin was the standout bowler for the visitors, claiming 3/27 in 10 overs, while legspinner Nquaba Peter showed promise despite some loose deliveries, taking 2/50 in his full spell. The highlight of the outfielding was Jones’s excellent diving catch on the square-leg boundary to dismiss Aviwe Mgijima.

GBETS ROCKS: Clyde Fortuin (wk), Janneman Malan, Keegan Petersen, Pieter Malan (capt), Ferisco Adams, Shaun van Berg, Aviwe Mgijima, Michael Copeland, Hardus Viljoen, Siyabonga Mahima, Achille Cloete

DP WORLD LIONS: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Zubayr Hamza, Dominic Hendricks (capt), Joshua Richards, Mitchell van Buuren, Evan Jones, Wiaan Mulder, Bjorn Fortuin, Malusi Siboto, Tshepo Moreki, Nqabayomzi Peter