The Dafabet Warriors and the DP World Lions secured their place in the evening’s final after convincing wins over Dafabet Boland and the YesPlay Cobras respectively. The YesPlay Newlands crowd were treated to some excellent cricket throughout the day, with two new one-handed catchers adding their names to the 12 winners for the prize pot of R3 million, put up by sponsors YesPlay.

That was the furthest thing from the minds of captains Bjorn Fortuin and Tristan Stubbs, when they strode out to the middle for the toss. It was Fortuin who won the toss and decided to have a bowl first in the early evening. Both teams remained unchanged for the final. The Warriors openers got to 36 after just 16 balls before Jordan Hermann (24 off 10 (3×4, 1×6) got a little greedy after hitting part-timer Morteza Manack for three successive fours and saw his drive snaffled by Fortuin at cover.

Sibs Makhanya was the next to go, 17 off 11 (2×4, 1×6), the Warriors losing their second on 48, bowled off the pads by Bjorn Fortuin. The run-rate was not the issue, being on 48/2 after 4 overs, after which they would have been disappointed to get to the end of the PowerPlay at 62/2, with Matthew de Villiers on 1 and JP King on 18.

Knowing they would need to get a total approaching 200 to put pressure on the Lions, de Villiers and King proceeded with caution and the odd piece of aggression as they built the 3rd wicket partnership. The blitz of 3 fours by de Villiers off Plaatjie’s first over took them to their 50 partnership off 37 balls (4×4, 2×6), with the team’s hundred coming up off the last ball of the 10th.

JP King brought up his third fifty of the tournament off 51 balls (1×4, 4×6) and proceeded to hit Morteza Manack for a four and another mighty six to take the Gqeberha outfit to 128/2 after 12 overs, the table laid for an assault in the last 8. The assault came with risks, with JP King offering two chances within 4 balls of each other, Peter and Yusuf not able to take advantage for the Lions.

The 100 partnership (61 balls, 7×4, 5×6) came up with an audacious scoop for six by de Villiers, and the Warriors’ 150 was reached at the end of the 14th as they kept up the pressure. Milestones continued to fall as de Villiers went to his fifty off 27 balls (6×4, 2×6) in the 16th over, with the first of his 3 fours in the Nqaba Peter over.

The 3rd ball of the 17th over saw the pair take their stand to 130, bettering their own 3rd wicket partnership record for the Warriors, as well as that at Newlands, breaking Smith and Kitime’s 2025/26 record, before King finally departed for a brilliant 73 off 47 balls (7×4, 5×6), caught at deep midwicket by Peter off Yusuf. 178/3
With three overs to go, the Warriors were on 180/3 and set for a big finish. Stubbs departed in the cause off the first ball of the 18th, leaving Patrick Kruger and de Villiers to finish the job.

The 200 was achieved off the first ball of the final over, as Patrick Kruger lofted Gerald Coetzee over Long on for a massive six. Coetzee went for 21 in his final over for the Warriors to end on their second-highest ever total in T20 cricket, as well as the second-highest total in domestic T20’s at Newlands. Kruger ended on a rapid-fire 29 (11 balls, 1×4, 2×6) and de Villiers a masterful 71 (39, 8×4, 3×6).

If the crowd of around 4,000 at Newlands had not been enthralled enough by the electrifying cricket on display, they were richly entertained during the innings break by the ever-popular dancing bears. (It’s true, you can’t make this stuff up)

The Lions batters came out into the fray knowing they would need to chase more than any team before at Newlands to deny the Eastern Cape men their second successive title. In the first over the Warriors were forced into a change at wicketkeeper when de Villiers appeared to dislocate his third finger on his right hand. Modiri Litheko came on the field as the designated wicketkeeper replacement.

It was Litheko who helped Beuran Hendricks roll back the years as he took two steepling catches to see the end of both Bjorn Fortuin for 8 (9 balls, 1×4) and Richard Seletswane for 6 (8 balls), the Lions slumping to 16/2 at the end of the 3rd over.

Rassie van der Dussen then fell to the fired-up Hendricks, attempting to reverse lap the speedster, and spooned a catch to guess who? With the innings in tatters, Mitch van Buuren strode out like a gladiator into the Warriors den and stroked his first ball through midwicket for four. Henrdricks’ opening spell of 3 overs saw him end on 3/16. It also left the Lions 22 runs and 1 wicket worse off at the same stage when compared to the Warriors.

The score was 36/3 at the end of the PowerPlay, with the rate required ballooning to 13.1 per over. The job at hand was not only to rebuild, but to do that while accelerating. They built slowly, and in the 10th over reached their 50 partnership off 31 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes. Halfway in the chase and they were living on a prayer, with still 143 needed to win.

Matters got much worse when Esterhuizen holed out to Patrick Kruger at long on off the bowling of Andile Mogakane in the 11th over, for a well-played 34 (23 balls, 4×3, 1×6), bringing Delano Potgieter in to join van Buuren. Potgieter pulled Boast over long leg to advance the Lions to 103/4 in the 13th over. The mountain to climb at that stage was bigger than the range overlooking the ground. The good thing for the crowd was that no-one had told the two Lions batters out in the middle, with van Buuren going to his fifty (31 balls, 4×4, 1×6) in style with a four to long leg off Mogakane, in an over that went for 19 runs.

Potgieter lofted Muthusamy into the Oaks to bring up the 50 partnership off 24 balls, only to fall the next ball for 30 (12 balls, 1×4, 4×6), deceived by the left-arm spinner as he skied it to extra cover where Makhanya took the catch. This left the Lions 138/5, with only 31 balls left in the innings. It got worse four balls into the 16th when Manack pulled Kerwin Mungroo to Patrick Kruger in front of the Oaks. The excitement from the Warriors was clear, with Captain Stubbs leading the celebrations. The victory certain, they appeared relaxed when van Buuren took the Lions beyond 150 at the end of the 17th, as the task at hand became academic for the men from Gauteng.

Nqaba Peter departed to the combination of Stubbs at Long off and the persistent Mungroo at the end of the 18th over. Coetzee came in and hit a few lusty blows but in the end, it was one bridge too far for the Lions. Mitch van Buuren ended with 72 not out, equalling his best T20 score. It was a brave effort in a 36 run losing cause, finishing on 183/7.

Robin Peterson’s men proved worth winners of the inaugural YesPlay Pro20 competition, with an all-round squad performance over the course of the six-week tournament that saw them top the standings before the finals day.
They have gone back-to-back as domestic T20 cricket champions, and no doubt will be hoping that next year they can once again be in with a shout to play in the Cape in pursuit of a three-peat.