Eastern Cape team beat Boland in earlier semi, Lions beat Cobras in last four

The Warriors cemented their status as the T20 kings of South African domestic cricket beating the Lions by 36 runs to be crowned 2026-27 YesPlay Pro20 Cup champions in Saturday night’s final at Newlands.

Having defeated the Cobras in Saturday morning’s second semifinal at Newlands, the Lions won the toss and elected to field first and would have been delighted to remove both Warriors openers Jordan Hermann and Sibonelo Makhanya early in the Warriors’ innings for 24 and 17 respectively.

But they soon toiled hard as JP King and Matthew de Villiers came together for a damaging 130-run partnership, finishing on 73 and 71 to put their team in the driving seat in the decider.

Patrick Kruger’s unbeaten 29 was also key to their healthy 219-run total, setting their opponents a tall order with the trophy on the line.

In reply the Lions suffered an early fall of wickets as Richard Seletswane wasn’t able to replicate the heroics of earlier in the day, this time dismissed for six runs, just four balls after opening partner Bjorn Fortuin went for nine.

It wasn’t long after that when Rassie van der Dussen also departed for just two runs, with Warriors having their opponents on the ropes at 25-3.

Connor Esterhuizen showed grit for his 34 alongside Mitchell van Buuren, who later partnered with Delano Potgieter to try and dig their side out of trouble.

With the wicket of Potgieter for 30, the writing was on the wall as van Buuren was left to stage a one-man resistance with their innings falling apart.

In the end their set target was just a bridge too far as the Warriors completed a comprehensive victory in front of a lively Cape Town crowd, lifting the T20 trophy for the second year in a row.

The Warriors had won by eight wickets in Saturday morning’s first semifinal against Boland.