DP World Lions ready to defend their perfect home record

It's been a perfect 10 out of 10 matches without defeat for #ThePrideOfJozi in CSA 4-Day Series matches at the DP World Wanderers Stadium. The teams away form has also been good enough that they will enjoy home ground advantage for the final that starts on Thursday.

The defending champions topped this season's log by six-and-a-half points despite having to settle for draws in their last three matches due to rain. Our DP World Lions will be taking on their neighbours, the Momentum Multiple Titans, in the five-day final.

Co-incidentally, it was the Titans who were the last team to win a four-day match at the Bullring, way back in November 2022. Since then, the DP World Lions have beaten the Northerns outfit at home by 153 runs earlier this season and also triumphed in the CSA T20 Challenge final by eight wickets in Johannesburg in October.

"We can take confidence from our record at the DP World Wanderers Stadium, we've played very good cricket here to only lose once in the last four years, and that can give us a psychological edge," coach Russell Domingo says.

"We've also played well against the Titans in all formats recently. Bjorn Fortuin scored a great hundred here under pressure to beat them in our last red-ball meeting.

"It's our second final against them this season, so that's pretty cool. They made a slowish start to the four-day competition but have been playing good cricket lately. Their home conditions in Centurion are definitely very similar to the DP World Wanderers," Domingo said.

While the farmers will disagree, all the recent rains have been about as welcome as an enema for the country's cricketers, but Domingo says he is not too concerned by the lack of action our DP World Lions have seen lately.

Last weekend's match in Bloemfontein against the Free State Knights was abandoned without a ball being bowled, before that their home game against the Hollywoodbets Dolphins only had two days of actual play and their trip to Paarl to play Goldrush Boland did not get past first innings.

"Fortunately, we won three out of our four games up front, which shows the benefit of starting well and is a good lesson. We've been playing good cricket lately even with the bad weather.

"So I don't think the lack of play is a big deal, particularly for our bowlers, who've had a couple of days in the field in Paarl and Johannesburg in the last few weeks. At least they will be fresh and well-rested," Domingo says.

And while Domingo pointed to an in-form and explosive Titans batting line-up as an important factor for the final, the DP World Lions attack is most adroit in their home conditions. Tshepo Moreki (19.84), Codi Yusuf (21.10) and Lutho Sipamla (21.15) have all taken 19 wickets in the four-day competition this season, at low averages, which shows how well they have dovetailed as a unit.

"The Titans batsmen have been in really good form, guys like Dewald Brevis, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Rivaldo Moonsamy and Neil Brand. They will come out and bat really positively, they are really dangerous batters.

"But our bowlers are also phenomenal and we will have to be particularly disciplined with the ball. We'll really need to hold our nerve and keep to our processes," Domingo says.

Unfortunately for the DP World Lions, Temba Bavuma is apparently facing another fitness situation and is highly unlikely to play.

However, #ThePrideOfJozi batting line-up has shown they still have the expertise when their Proteas are away, with Zubayr Hamza having established himself as one of the best batsmen in the country, Dominic Hendricks and Josh Richards are a resourceful opening pair and Fortuin has the temperament to handle whatever circumstance he faces in the lower-order.