The DP World Lions Ladies team has had a month off from Hollywoodbets Pro Series action but it’s not as if they have been enjoying tubs of ice-cream and refreshing swimming pools during this festive period: the focus has been squarely on preparing for this weekend’s crucial visit to Durban to take on the Hollywoodbets Dolphins.
It’s a vital weekend for the Lions with their hosts enjoying an unbeaten season in both the Hollywoodbets Pro50 and Pro20 competitions. World Sports Betting Western Province are also unbeaten in the shortest format, so victory for #ThePrideOfJozi in Sunday’s T20 match will keep them in touch with the leaders.
In the 50-over competition, victory for the Lions will bring them within one win of the Dolphins, with a game in hand.
“INTENT” is the message coach Shaun Pretorius has been thumping home in the Lions’ build-up to this crunch weekend.
“After playing Western Province, we had a week off and then we did some nice team-building and played some golf. But we started three weeks ago with our prep for the visit to Kingsmead, just to make sure the players keep their loads up. It’s been good to have a bit of a break, but if there’s any sort of holiday mindset then we won’t achieve success,” Pretorius says.
“We need to be switched on all the time, that’s when things tend to go your way. Against the unbeaten Dolphins, it’s going to be all about intent and I keep reminding the ladies of that and the way we finished last season. We didn’t beat the Dolphins in the 50-over match but in the T20 we really took them on and the results were phenomenal.
“So we need the same mindset this weekend and we can’t allow their bowlers to settle. As #ThePrideOfJozi, we are happy to take on that challenge. We need to take away their ability to dictate terms by manipulating the field, we must determine the pace of the game,” Pretorius says.
Shorn of the batting abilities of Tazmin Brits, Karabo Meso, Diara Ramlakan and Sinalo Jafta (who are all away with the Proteas or the SA Under-19 team in India), there is obviously some pressure on the experienced duo of Kirstie Thomson and Sunette Viljoen-Louw to lead the charge of the Lions batting line-up.
So far the contributions of the top-order have been dwarfed by the middle and lower-order but Pretorius is hoping the run of good starts not being converted comes to an end this weekend.
“Once our top-order comes through then we will really be a major force to be reckoned with. We’re just missing those valuable partnerships up front at the moment.
“Kirstie and Sunette are obviously vital for us. It’s been really good to see Sunette take responsibility in the middle-order and she is the leading run-scorer in the Pro50. Sunette just wants to embrace every moment that’s left in her career and that’s why, after we signed Tazmin Brits, we wanted to keep her in the squad. We asked her to move to the middle-order and she has worked really hard on her skills there,” Pretorius says.
The absence of Proteas pace bowler Tumi Sekhukhune and SA U19 all-rounder Fay Cowling has been offset by the availability of Ayabonga Khaka, who continues to perform impressively in white-ball cricket for the national team.
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