WP Women looking to tame the Lions and bring home the Trophies
Cape Town, 30th March 2023
The Six Gun Grill Western Province Women’s team tops the logs in both the CSA 50 over and 20 over competitions going into the final round of matches this weekend. Head Coach Claire Terblanche and her ladies jet off tomorrow to Johannesburg for two do-or-die encounters with the DP World Lions at the University of Johannesburg on Saturday 1st (50 0ver) and Sunday 2nd (20 over) April. No, this is not an April Fools joke…
The Scenarios
50 over competition
After a fantastic season, where WP have lost only once, (9 matches, 6 wins, 1 loss, 2 no results (both against the Dolphins) ) the Women from the Cape are 4 points clear of their closest rivals, the HollywoodBets Dolphins. A WP win against the Lions will secure the title. If the Dolphins lose their match in Oudtshoorn against the Six Gun Grill Garden Route Badgers, then the title will also return to Cape Town, irrespective of the result against the Lions.
Should the Dolphins win and WP lose, the Dolphins will need to win with a bonus point to claim the title, as WP have won more games in the season, which is the first criterion, before Net Run Rate. All eyes will be on the two matches on Saturday to see how the drama unfolds.
20 over competition
It’s essentially a final between WP and the Lions for the title. Whichever team wins the match will win the title. It could not be more evenly matched. Both teams have 7 wins and 2 defeats, with WP edging the title race so far with one additional bonus point.
An Outstanding Season
It has been a season of two halves, with 7 weekends of play up until the beginning of December, and three weekends from the middle of March to the beginning of April. WP went into the break with a 4 point advantage over the Dolphins in the 50 over format, and a 3 point cushion over the Lions in the shorter version.
In the 50 over competition, WP lost their 100% record against the Lions at Newlands, and a narrow win by their northern rivals in the T20 format saw their lead narrowed to just 1 point. This weekend WP will once again be looking for that “Bounce-back-ability” which they showed in last week’s dominant T20 win against the Dolphins.
In the longer version, Momentum Proteas batter and now Masters Graduate Andrie Steyn has led the batting line-up with aplomb, scoring 251 runs at an average of 41.83, while the effervescent Nosipho Vezi has been outstanding with the ball, collecting 16 wickets at only 14.56 per wicket, at runs per over of 3.9.
On the T20 front National Contractee and Proteas all-rounder Nadine de Klerk heads the competion batting averages with 79.00, having only been out twice while amassing 158 runs. Captain Leah Jones heads the bowling stats, taking 11 wickets at a miserly 5.06 runs per over, with an average of 13.81.
It’s all to play for as the 13 player squad heads north for this weekend’s crunch encounters.
The Squad
Claire Terblanche, assistants Gabi-Lee van der Westhuizen and Shiree Steyn have named the following players for the encounters with the Lions:
Leah Jones (Captain), Kelsey Adams, Lara Goodall, Sinalo Jafta, Yandiswa Mangele, Robyn Appels, Delmi Tucker, Andrie Steyn, Saarah Smith, Caitlin Wyngaard, Nadine de Klerk, Nosipho Vezi and Faye Tunnicliffe.
Wishing our #LadiesinBlue all the best for the upcoming matches.