Moreki confident the Boys in Blue will bounce back in Lions clash

October 2025

NEWLANDS – World Sports Betting Western Province Men fast bowler Tshepo Moreki has expressed confidence that the Boys in Blue will bounce back strongly when they host the DP World Lions in their second 4-Day Series match this week.

Rory Kleinveldt’s charges will be aiming to turn things around after last weekend’s defeat to the Dafabet Warriors, as they prepare to host their first home fixture of the season at WSB Newlands from Thursday, 2 to 5 October 2025.

The match is scheduled to get underway at 10h00 and will be streamed live on Cricket South Africa’s official YouTube channel.

Moreki claimed a brilliant five-wicket haul in Western Province’s second innings against the Warriors, finishing the match with an impressive total of seven wickets.

The 31-year-old expressed his delight on his return to World Sports Betting Newlands as well as the team’s overall performance, noting that while they ultimately fell just short of victory, there were plenty of positives to take from the game.

“It’s been a good couple of years for me plugging away, doing the right things and getting recognised by the higher ups which has helped me grow as a cricketer. I’ve really been enjoying my cricket and coming home to help a young group of players is where I see my career going,” said Moreki.

“Understanding my game more and staying relaxed has been key for me in my growth as a cricketer. My home life is stable, and it all plays a part in where I am in my career.”

On his return Moreki bagged his maiden 5 wicket haul for the Boys in Blue and is eager to add more to his belt.

“It’s always nice to contribute to the team although, ultimately, it wasn’t in a winning effort, so it makes it a little bit more difficult to take,” he said.

“We came close in the game and, it would have been a much better homecoming back to WSB Newlands if I could have taken a fiver in a winning cause.

“But in saying that any opportunity you get to influence the game or to add value to a team performance, I think you take that.”

Moreki expressed his satisfaction with being among the wicket takers, but emphasized that cricket is a team effort, and for them to secure victories, the entire bowling unit needs to consistently take more wickets, as that is ultimately what wins games.

“I’ll take what I can from the game,” he said. “I enjoyed it, but we need to take more wickets as a bowling unit and win games as a team – which is our goal this season.”

While acknowledging that facing the Lions will be a tough challenge, Moreki remains confident that the Boys in Blue can get their campaign off to a strong start with a home victory.

“The Lions are a good team, obviously they’ll always be a good team on paper – whichever eleven they put it out there,” added Moreki.

“We have to worry about ourselves, I think we did a lot of good things last week – but we also did a lot of things that need to be worked on.

“So, the focus this week is on us more than the Lions. And if we play good enough cricket, we should get over the line against them.”

Our captain, Beuran Hendricks, sustained a minor niggle during training this week and will be rested as a precautionary measure.

WSB Western Province Squad:

Mthiwekhaya Nabe, George Linde, Juan James, Jody Lawrence, Bongile Mfunelwa, Valentine Kitime, Mihlali Mpongwana, Jiveshan Pillay, Edward Moore, Daniel Smith (c), Joshua van Heerden, Oliver Whitehead, Kyle Simmonds, Tshepo Moreki, Dane Paterson.