Hamza stars as Lions chase second trophy this season

The DP World Lions will host the final match of the provincial season at the Wanderers on Sunday, aiming to win the CSA One-Day Cup for the first time in three seasons.

The Lions will find out the identity of their opponents on Wednesday night, after the play-off fixture between the Warriors and Titans in Gqeberha.

The Warriors and Lions, who have each won a trophy already this season, both claimed five wins in the One-Day competition, but the Johannesburg union finished ahead of the Eastern Province side after claiming an extra bonus point.

Despite losing Conor Esterhuizen, Wiaan Mulder and Lutho Sipamla to the Proteas for the tour to New Zealand, the depth of the squad, under the guidance of head coach Russell Domingo, has seen them come through the round-robin stage without losing a match.

Zubayr Hamza has been superb, scoring two hundreds and finishing the league phase of the competition as the leading run-scorer with an aggregate of 400. Hamza has been one of the country’s top batters in the last two seasons, but that has mainly been in the four-day format. His form in the limited-overs competition — while opening the batting — has shown an additional string to his bow, and the growing maturity he’s displayed will be pleasing for a player so richly talented.

Mitchell van Buuren and Reeza Hendricks have contributed 162 and 228 runs respectively, with Proteas ODI captain Temba Bavuma, quietly adding 82 runs in three innings.

Among the bowlers, there’ll be some frowns at seeing Hendricks’s part-time spin, putting him in second place among the leading bowling averages for the season, but the veteran has picked up six wickets. Three of those came in last Saturday’s win against Boland in Paarl, where the home team suffered a horrible collapse, losing seven wickets for 43 runs.

Leg-spinner Nqaba Peter has picked up 12 wickets, with his five-for against the Dolphins being crucial for his confidence as he looks to get back into the Proteas squad.

The conclusion of the league phase of the One-Day Cup also confirmed that the KZN-Inland Tuskers would be relegated to Division 2 next season. The Pietermaritzburg-based union, who came up at the end of last season, finished ahead of Western Province in the 50-over competition, but last-place finishes in both the T20 and Four-Day tournaments condemned them to a journey back to Division 2.

Meanwhile the Knights, who had swapped places with the Tuskers, will do so again, having emerged as the best team in Division 2.

At least for next year, the Free State side won’t have to worry about going back down immediately, after CSA approved changes to the domestic structure that will see promotion/relegation determined over the course of two seasons.

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