The Lions roared once again today (Sunday, 24 January) in their Momentum One Day Cup match against the Warriors with a composed 42 run win at Senwes Park.

Resilient half-centuries from Nicky van den Bergh (73) and Delano Potgieter (57) as well as superb bowling set the scene for the Lions’ second win in a row in the Momentum One Day Cup.

The Lions’ bowlers restricted the Warriors to 168 all out in overcast conditions with all the bowlers chipping in. The Lions only managed 210 all out on a tricky wicket, but that proved enough in this low scoring encounter.

Photos: Wouter Pienaar

  Although the Lions got off to a shaky start – being 47/4 at one stage batting first, they got back on track thanks to a much needed 129 run partnership for the fifth wicket between Van den Bergh and Potgieter. Van den Bergh was back in his home town and stated that although he was used to the conditions, that the pitch was quite slow and difficult to play, as opposed to previous years. “The pitch has gotten slower mainly use to the amount of cricket played here. It depends on the day, as the pitch played much better on Friday. Overall I’m really happy with my innings and proud of Delano at the other end too. I’m happy with what we achieved on a difficult wicket,” stated Van den Bergh. Lions captain Aaron Phangiso, was also thrilled with the result which showcased the bowling depth of the side as well as their grit to fight it out in difficult circumstances. “Both batting and bowling departments put up their hands today, especially the senior guys like Malusi (Siboto), Sisanda Magala and Bjorn Fortuin. Our plan is to keep it simple on the field and we never felt the need to panic at any point despite not having too many runs to defend,” stated Phangiso.

Phangiso also mentioned that two wins in a row does take the pressure off in Pool B, and gives a chance to give others in form players a chance. “Guys like Kagiso Rapulana and Johannes Diseko are in good form and it would be good to give them and other players in the squad an opportunity especially when our Proteas players are not in the squad going into the semi-final stages. It’s a nice position to be in but we want to keep the momentum going and not relax too much as we want to play good winning cricket.” The Warriors struggled in their reply and never got going as the Lions’s bowling combinations kept pressuring the Eastern Cape side into mistakes. It was only Wihan Lubbe (42) who provided resistance, but when his wicket fell so did the Warriors hopes. Eldred Hawken (2/29) got the crucial wicket of Jon-Jon Smuts for a first ball duck, whilst Sisanda Magala also dismissed the in form Rudi Second for a duck to send the Warriors on the back foot.