The bizhub Highveld Lions have made it a habit in this year’s T20 Challenge to win matches in the final over, either with bat or ball in hand.
The Lions’ last ball victory against the Warriors at Kingsmead last Sunday was such an occurrence as Dwaine Pretorius kept a calm head and yorked Andrew Birch to give his side their third victory in a row.
The Lions managed to beat the Cobras by 3 runs at Senwes Park last month when Wiaan Mulder bowled George Linde with the final ball of the match.
Now, the Lions will aim to do the same to the Knights and pick up a vital victory in their surge for the playoffs. It is a must-win game for the Lions and everything points to another nail-biting encounter at the home of North West Cricket on Friday 9 December.
Scores will also be settled in the middle as the Knights will look to avenge the 20-run defeat they suffered against the men in red and yellow earlier in the campaign. That match was played at the Kimberley Oval on Friday 2 December, and a quickfire 57 from Potchefstroomer, Nicky van den Bergh and a resolute 53 from Reeza Hendricks took the game away from the Knights.
The Lions, in general, have not relied on a specific batsman to score their runs as everyone has chipped in with valuable contributions this season. In the Lions win against the Warriors, Rassie van der Dussen, was on hand to steer the Lions to a big total with a great half-century that was filled with monstrous sixes.
The bowling department is also on good form for Geoffrey Toyana’s Lions side as Hardus Viljoen and Eddie Leie played their part with vital break-throughs. Viljoen has had a fantastic season with the ball and has picked up 14 wickets, which is the second most in the competition behind the Warriors’ Andrew Birch with 17.
The Knights will have to rely on Patrick Kruger’s bat to guide them to a big score. The opener has already scored 225 runs in the competition with the highest score of 79. Marchant de Lange has taken the most wickets for the Knights with 9 and he may be a handful come Friday.
The match on Friday will start at 18:00. Tickets are available at ticketpro.co.za
