Leg-spinner Junaid Dawood and batsman Dominic Hendricks have returned to the Lions ahead of this week’s 4-Day Domestic Series resumption.
The Lions loaned Dawood and Hendricks to the Warriors and Knights, respectively, for the One-Day Cup earlier this month. Both players are available for this week’s fixture against Boland in Paarl.
“Dominic has had some valuable time out in the middle with the Knights, scoring over 200 runs while on loan, Mitchell van Buuren scored three 50s in his last five innings in the One-Day Cup, Zubayr Hamza gets past 30 just about every time he bats and Connor Esterhuizen has been looking good too,” said Lions head coach Russell Domingo.
“A second spinner is certainly a consideration and we may even play three spinners. We’ll have to assess conditions. But reverse swing can also come into it down there and your fast bowlers are important too because the pitch can be a bit up and down. We don’t often get reverse swing conditions, but it is a skill our pacemen need to get into their games.”
The Lions are the reigning 4-Day Domestic Series, division one, champions – and are in first position this season. The Titans and Knights are in second and third position, respectively..
“There’s a lot of cricket still to be played in the competition, but we are in a good position, leading the Titans by a dozen points and then the Knights and Boland a bit further behind,” added Domingo.
“We have much the same group that has played all season travelling to Paarl. The batsmen have all been batting well in the middle, even though our Achilles heel in the One-Day Cup was not scoring centuriess, while on the bowling front we have Lutho Sipamla back.”