Staff Reporter.
Temba Bavuma played a masterful innings to help guide the Imperial Lions into the final of the Betway T20 Challenge with a seven-wicket victory over the Dafabet Warriors in the playoff match at Hollywoodbets Kingsmead in Durban on Saturday.
Bavuma was busy around the crease, turning singles into twos while piercing the field when needed to end unbeaten on 48 from 37 deliveries, an innings that included one four and two sixes as the Lions ended on 142 for three in response to the Warriors’ 141 for six.
It was the key third-wicket partnership of 61 from 51 balls between Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen (17) that got the Lions close before a rash shot from Van der Dussen, caught at mid-off by Anrich Nortje off Mthiwekhaya Nabe (3.1-0-25-2), brought an end to the stand.
The pair had worked hard after a double-strike had reduced the Lions to 61 for two. Reeza Hendricks (32) and Ryan Rickelton (23) had given the defending champions a good start with an opening stand of 59 off 47 balls before Jon-Jon Smuts (4-0-18-1) flattened Hendricks’s middle stump.
Nabe then rattled Rickelton’s off-stump to bring the Proteas pair together. Once Van der Dussen departed, the Lions required just 19 from 20 balls and Bavuma and Wihan Mulder (15 not out) paced themselves to the end and into the final, with Mulder smashing the first ball of the final over from Nabe for six, to hand victory to the Lions with five balls to spare.
Meanwhile the Hollywoodbets Dolphins claimed a nail-biting seven-run victory over the Momentum Multiply Titans in their final Betway T20 challenge pool match at Kingsmead in Durban on Friday afternoon.
The Lions will now take on the Hollywoodbets Dolphins in the Betway T20 Challenge final in Durban on Sunday.
IMPERIAL LIONS: Reeza Hendricks, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Temba Bavuma (capt), Rassie van der Dussen, Wiaan Mulder, Delano Potgieter, Bjorn Fortuin, Sisanda Magala, Kagiso Rabada, Aaron Phangiso, Beuran Hendricks.
DAFABET WARRIORS: Jon-Jon Smuts, Sinethemba Qeshile (capt & wk), Wihan Lubbe, Marco Jansen, Lesiba Ngoepe, Ayabulela Gqamane, Anrich Nortje, Jade de Klerk, Mthiwekhaya Nabe, Lizo Makosi, Tristan Stubbs.