The Imperial Lions won the toss and elected to field first as the Rocks secured a 44-run and bonus point win earlier today.

The Rocks captain, Pieter Malan, delivered another brilliant performance in the tournament after he smashed 71 off 48 balls (5 boundaries and 4 sixes), with fellow men Ferisco Adams (30* off 23), and Christiaan Jonker (20 off 15), to see the Rocks set a respectable target of 161.

The Rocks bowlers continued where their batters left off as Siyabonga Mahima struck with the first ball, dismissing Joshua Richards for a duck.

Another spell was delivered by Shaun von Berg (3/14 in 4 overs), who dismissed Shane Dadswell (29) and Mitchell Van Buuren (0) in his first two deliveries.

Reeza Hendricks batted on in the innings, striking a 46 off 39 (4 boundaries and 1 six) and a bowling performance of 1/10 in his 2 overs. His 46-run stand with Shane Dadswell (29 off 24 with 4 boundaries), followed by Sisanda Magala’s 21 off 15 (2 boundaries and 1 six), brought the Lions innings to 116 all out in 17.2 overs.

In the second match of the day, the Western Province Blitz won the toss and elected to bat first in a top-of-the-table clash against the North West Dragons.

The WP Blitz were off to a good start, with opener Jonathan Bird top scoring with 53 off 44 (5 boundaries and 2 maximums).

Captain Wayne Parnell’s 33* off 17 (2 boundaries and 2 sixes) and Dane Vilas’s 31 of 20 (3 boundaries and 1 six), set a good ending to the innings to see the Blitz set the target of 165 runs.

Dragons’ spinner, Senuran Muthusamy recorded 4/20 in his 4 overs, claiming 3 wickets in the 18th over.

North West Dragons batters had little to no response to the Blitz bowlers. With 4 wickets down by the end of Powerplay the Dragons were bowled out for only 80 runs in 17.4 overs.

Beuran Hendricks (4/20 in 4 overs) struck first, dismissing Senuran Muthusamy before he could score any runs after 3 balls faced, Wesley Marshall for 15, Taheer Isaacs (0) before Delano Potgieter was caught by Wayne Parnell for 1 after 6 balls faced.

Junaid Dawood recorded 3/22 in his four-overs. Basheeru-Deen Walters 0/11 (4 overs), Mihlali Mpongwana 2/11 (2.4 overs) and skipper Wayne Parnell 1/13 (3 overs) dominated as WP Blitz destroyed the Dragons line-up, securing a massive 84-run (and a bonus point) win.

The CSA T20 Challenge continues Thursday, 17 February 2022 with the below fixtures:

10h00: Titans vs Lions

14h30: Warriors vs Rocks