OPINION: Is the dominance of the Lions healthy for South African cricket?

Highveld giants the Lions have dominated the South African cricket scene over the past few years and they look set to continue that trend after clinching the T20 Challenge title with a thumping win over their cross-Jukskei rivals the Titans this past Sunday.

The win saw the Lions go back-to-back in the T20 Challenge as they picked up their third title in the past five seasons of the competition.

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It is not only the shortest format that the Lions have found success in, with them winning two of the last three One Day Cup titles, and they also picked up the CSA Four Day series title last season.

So out of the last seven local competitions in SA cricket, the Lions have picked up four of them, with Western Province making sure they didn’t seal a clean sweep last season (2023-24) by winning the One Day Cup.

The previous season (2022-23) the Lions won the One Day Cup for the second straight year, but the Titans won the T20 Challenge and the Dolphins triumphed in the Four Day Series.

The Lions are clearly the strongest team in SA cricket, as proven by their recent results, and they have an incredibly powerful squad of players led by a host of Proteas stars.

Incredible depth

Even when their national players are unavailable, the Lions have incredible depth that allows them to continue dominating despite missing a slew of first-choice stars.

The question must be asked, however, whether that is possibly stifling local cricket, as players who would play regularly for other teams only get a chance to shine when the Proteas players are unavailable.

If you look at last week’s T20 Challenge win over the Titans, match winners Lutho Sipamla and Connor Esterhuizen would probably not have played, had Ryan Rickelton and Kagiso Rabada not been on international duty.

Exciting up-and-coming youngsters like Kwena Maphaka and Nqaba Peter are getting fantastic exposure at the moment, but would likely not have as many chances if the Proteas players were available.

For the Lions as a union, having a plethora of talent available is allowing them to be the most successful side in SA cricket, but is it possibly limiting certain players from reaching their full potential?