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Warriors clinch T20 Challenge trophy in dramatic Super Over

cricket30 November 2025 15:42| © MWP
By:Patrick Compton
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The Dafabet Warriors won their first T20 Challenge trophy in 15 years when they inched past Goldrush Boland in the Super Over after the teams had earlier tied the match in a thrilling finish at Boland Park in Paarl on Sunday.

“If two sides deserved to be in the final, it was us and Boland. We made it hard for ourselves but the guys are really stoked with this win. We’ve worked incredibly hard and stuck together to lift this trophy and I couldn’t be prouder of the guys,” said an elated Warriors captain Matthew de Villiers, afterwards.

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In normal time, the teams finished tied on 142 with Boland, having won the toss, finishing on 142-6, while the Warriors replied with 142-5.

The visitors would have felt they had wasted a wonderful opportunity for victory after Tristan Stubbs drove the first ball of the final over – with eight needed – from Aya Gqamane for six over long on before taking a single off the second ball.

But then Gqamane achieved the seemingly impossible, bowling Senuran Muthusamy with his third ball and then bowling two dot balls to JP King.

King then missed his final ball and wicketkeeper Clyde Fortuin threw down the stumps with Stubbs millimetres short as he dived for the crease for the winning bye.

To their credit, however, the Warriors put their disappointment behind them with Stubbs and the hero of their first innings, Jordan Hermann, scoring 16 in their Super Over with Hermann slamming a six and a three off the final two balls from Ferisco Adams.

In the Boland reply, Adams was caught at cow corner off the first ball from pace bowler Aphiwe Mnyanda who then bowled a wide.

But the seamer’s remaining deliveries were on the money and Roelofsen and skipper Fortuin never threatened to overhaul the victory target as they fell 10 runs short.

TOUGH TARGET

Earlier, left-hander Lehan Botha struck 51 in 45 balls to lead Boland to their competitive total on a difficult wicket.

The Boland Park pitch is usually slow and uneven and that was the case throughout the match as batters struggled to time the ball.

The two Warriors’ spinners, Senuran Muthusamy – back from his heroics in India – and left-arm wrist-spinner Thomas Kaber, were particularly effective on the dry surface with both men showing good control on an up-and-down pitch that gave them assistance.

Left-arm finger spinner Muthusamy opened the bowling and bowled three overs for 17 runs, claiming the wickets of both openers, Fortuin (bowled after being deceived in the flight) and Roelofsen (top-edging a reverse-sweep to backward point).

Kaber claimed the scalp of Gavin Kaplan who top-edged a nudge to leg that looped to wicketkeeper Sinethemba Qeshile.

Muthusamy finished with 2-23 and Kaber an excellent 1-18.

But Boland were able to prosper, to a certain extent, against the pace bowlers with Botha, after a slow start, striking five fours and a six as he accelerated to 51 in 45 balls before holing out in the final over.

The most explosive innings, however, belonged to Adams who hit a four and two sixes in his 32 in 24 balls.

The allrounder was the main contributor towards a fifth-wicket partnership of 58 as Boland scored 52 in the last five overs to reach their total.

Altogether 12 fours and four sixes were struck in the innings, two of them to Adams, as Boland set their opponents a tough but not insurmountable target.

HERMANN HOLDS THE FORT

That target seemed there for the taking, however, after Hermann played beautifully to strike 74 in 53 balls (9x4s, 2x6s) in the supreme innings of the day.

Never resorting to slogging, the talented left-hander timed the ball perfectly where other batters struggled for fluency.

In a typically cricketing irony, Matthew de Villiers, the captain of the Warriors, was dismissed first ball, playing on to left-arm spinner Siyabonga Mahima, after scoring a remarkable 394 runs in the competition, including five 50s – all in his first season of playing the format.

Hermann, having dominated the opening partnership of 60, then added 38 with Stubbs before falling leg before to Mahima, giving the burly left-arm spinner his third wicket as he finished with an excellent 3-24 in his four overs.

Stubbs and his fellow Protea, Muthusamy, then showed cool heads to add 44 for the fourth wicket before Muthusamy was yorked by Gqamane in a dramatic final over when victory seemed certain for the Warriors.

As it turned out, it was victory delayed not aborted as the visitors went on to clinch the Super Over.

GOLDRUSH BOLAND: Grant Roelofsen, Clyde Fortuin (capt, wk), Gavin Kaplan, Lehan Botha, Gysbert Wege, Ferisco Adams, Jhedli van Briesies, Imran Manack, Ayabulela Gqamane, Glenton Stuurman, Siyabonga Mahima

DAFABET WARRIORS: Patrick Kruger, Jordan Hermann, Matthew de Villiers (capt), Tristan Stubbs, JP King, Sinethemba Qeshile (wk), Senuran Muthusamy, Thomas Kaber, Aphiwe Mnyanda, Wesley Bedja, Kerwin Mungroo

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