Gqeberha — The Warriors were their own worst enemies as the hosts crashed out of the CSA T20 Challenge on Thursday.
Robin Peterson's team were guilty of dropping a couple of crucial catches in addition to some sloppy outfielding. This was crucial in the context of a match that was decided with only two balls remaining.
Warriors skipper Sinethemba Qeshile's captaincy should also come under scrutiny with the utilization of his bowling resources questionable. It was abundantly evident that spin was the best option on a sluggish St George's Park surface, with firstly Rocks leg-spinner Shaun von Berg claiming 3/26 during the Warriors innings and then the Warriors own spinning quartet of Jon Jon Smuts (1/16), Lizo Makhosi (1/16), Wihan Lubbe (0/8) and Tshepo Ndwandwa (2/33) delivering the collective figures of 4/73 in 13 overs.
And despite Lubbe and Makhosi having three overs remaining between them, Qeshile entrusted the two young left-arm seamers Akhona Mnyaka and Tiaan van Vuuren with the final five overs of the Rocks chase.
Van Vuuren was a particularly disastrous choice with the 20-year-old conceding 55 runs in his 3.4 overs, which included not being able to defend 10 runs off the last six balls after Mnyaka had at least given the home side a sniff by picking up two wickets in the penultimate over.
Ultimately the Warriors will bemoan a campaign where they have unleashed one of the most exciting young batters in the country Tristan Stubbs, who again did not disappoint with another bristling 30-ball 47 to take his tournament aggregate to 264 runs, but will bemoan a lack of accuracy with the ball and in the field.
Meanwhile, the Rocks have entrenched themselves in third place on the log behind their table-topping neighbours Western Province and the Titans, who trounced the Lions earlier in the day by seven wickets, and look set for a place in the playoffs.
Young SA U19 cap Michael Copeland will also take plenty of confidence from his 40 in a high-pressure chase that took the Rocks to the brink of victory.
Summarised scoreboards
Lions: 148/6 (Hendricks 41, Magala 33*, Shamsi 2/25)
Titans: 152/3 (De Bruyn 63*, Klaasen 44, Siboto 2/17)
Titans won by seven wickets
Warriors: 156/6 (Stubbs 47, Lubbe 35, Von Berg 3/26)
Rocks: 160/7 (Copeland 40, Jonker 30, Mnyaka 2/27)