Magala’s ‘up yours’ to Proteas selectors after taking 6/55 for Lions

The Lions and Titans got their CSA One Day Competition campaigns off to the best possible starts with thumping bonus point wins over the Warriors and Rocks respectively.

The Lions crushed the Warriors by 160 runs at the Wanderers, while the Titans smashed the Rocks by 177 runs at SuperSport Park, in two surprisingly one sided encounters.

For the Lions they were grateful for a middle order resurgence that saw them recover from a shaky 18/3 early on to post 266/8 in their 50 overs, thanks to Rassie van der Dussen (81), Mitchell van Buuren (78) and Dominic Hendricks (38).

The Warriors could then only respond with 106 all out as Sisanda Magala, who was just dropped by the Proteas due to fitness concerns, claimed superb figures of 6/55 to help his team get off to a cracking start.

In the Titans match the home side amassed a big 348/7, with Theunis de Bruyn’s sparkling 134 off 119 balls leading the way, while he was backed up by Sibonelo Makhanya (55), Corbin Bosch (51no) and Aya Gqamane (38).

The Rocks then responded with 171 all out with Janneman Malan (93), Stiaan van Zyl (34) and Michael Copeland (28) the only players getting into double figures as they also had five ducks in the innings, while Lungi Ngidi was the chief destroyer with the ball picking up 5/33.

In the other division one match the North West Dragons upset Western Province by 17 runs, as they batted first and scored 243/9 thanks to Senuran Muthusamy’s century, backed up by Heino Kuhn (49) and Khanya Cotani (41).

The Western Province chase was then a one man effort as Jonathan Bird stroked his way to 116 off 126 balls, but received barley any support with the next best effort 34 from Mihlali Mpongwana.

Day Two’s fixtures Sunday (all start times 10am unless specified):

Dolphins v Titans at Kingsmead (9:30am start)

Rocks v Knights at Boland Park

Warriors v Dragons at St George’s Park

Lions v Western Province at Wanderers