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"contents": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Knights need a small miracle to avoid relegation to division two in their ongoing final match of the domestic season against the table-topping Lions.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The side from Free State have, so far, performed the worst, cumulatively, across the T20, one-day and four-day cup competitions in the 2024/25 season.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Knights finished bottom of the CSA T20 Challenge and fifth in the One Day Cup, and currently occupy sixth place on the four-day series standings, which means they have five total points as things stand.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The other side flirting with relegation is the Warriors, who have gathered seven total points after ending the One Day Cup in fourth, the T20 Challenge in sixth and are the tournament’s basement dwellers in the red-ball competition.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Knights need to win their match against table-toppers the Lions in Bloemfontein, and hope for a few other results to go their way to climb to fourth place on the standings.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the result, before a ball was bowled, looked unlikely, it looks even worse for the Knights now after day one was rained out without a ball being bowled and inclement weather delayed the start of day two, on Friday as well.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their opponents, the Lions, have been boosted by the inclusion of Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma, who was in terrific red-ball form over the past Test summer.</span>\r\n<h4><b>Relegation battle</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Facing relegation is nothing new for the Knights, who were the first team to go down, after the domestic system was restructured, in 2022/23.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the Free State side made their way back up after dominating division two last season, although they are now likely to yo-yo their way back down again.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I’m surprised they find themselves in this situation, as I believed they had been performing adequately,” Lions coach Russell Domingo said.</span>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2662082\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/TL_2322929-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1370\" /> <em>Jean du Plessis of the Warriors and Lhuan-dre Pretorius of the Titans during day 2 of their Four-Day Domestic Series match at St George's Park on 20 December 2024 in Gqeberha, South Africa. (Photo: Richard Huggard / Gallo Images)</em></p>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2662075\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/TL_2315102-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1606\" /> <em>Tiaan van Vuuren and Isaac Dikgale of the Knights in action against Western Province at Newlands on 9 December 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: Grant Pitcher / Gallo Images)</em></p>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Knights finished tied on points with the Dolphins in the CSA T20 Challenge and had a better net-run rate, but the Dolphins finished ahead on the log.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Had the Knights finished in seventh and not eighth, they would have only been one point behind the Warriors, instead of two on the cumulative promotion/relegation points table.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Warriors found themselves in a world of trouble on day one of their final four-day series match against the Dolphins yesterday after they were on 40 for the loss of four wickets in the morning session.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It took a brilliant fightback by Warriors skipper Senuran Muthusamy, alongside Jordan Hermann, as the pair put on a hundred-run partnership to rescue their side.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A big loss for the Warriors and the Knights somehow scraping a win would have meant likely relegation for the men from the Eastern Cape.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On top of both the four-day and cumulative standings are the Lions, who look poised to host the final of the four-day series again, having opened up a substantial lead over the chasing pack of the Titans and Dolphins, with one of the two chasers battling it out for the second spot in the final.</span>\r\n<h4><b>Top of the charts</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prior to the start of the final round of fixtures, it was actually Knights opener Lesego Senokwane who was atop the run-scoring charts with 559 in 10 innings.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hermann and Boland’s Grant Roelofsen have since taken over in the ongoing matches and they are both approaching 600 runs for the season.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Western Province all-rounder George Linde has also been among the highest run getters with 521 with a highest score of 121.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the wicket-taking charts, it’s the spinners who have dominated with Boland leg spinner Shaun von Berg and Dolphin’s off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen top of the pile with a bucket load of 34 wickets a piece.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Warriors seamer Beyers Swanepoel is the only seamer on the charts, with 29 scalps, while Kyle Simmonds and Tshepo Ndwanda, of Western Province and the Titans, sit on 25 and 21 respectively. </span><b>DM</b>",
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"description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Knights need a small miracle to avoid relegation to division two in their ongoing final match of the domestic season against the table-topping Lions.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The side from Free State have, so far, performed the worst, cumulatively, across the T20, one-day and four-day cup competitions in the 2024/25 season.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Knights finished bottom of the CSA T20 Challenge and fifth in the One Day Cup, and currently occupy sixth place on the four-day series standings, which means they have five total points as things stand.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The other side flirting with relegation is the Warriors, who have gathered seven total points after ending the One Day Cup in fourth, the T20 Challenge in sixth and are the tournament’s basement dwellers in the red-ball competition.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Knights need to win their match against table-toppers the Lions in Bloemfontein, and hope for a few other results to go their way to climb to fourth place on the standings.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the result, before a ball was bowled, looked unlikely, it looks even worse for the Knights now after day one was rained out without a ball being bowled and inclement weather delayed the start of day two, on Friday as well.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their opponents, the Lions, have been boosted by the inclusion of Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma, who was in terrific red-ball form over the past Test summer.</span>\r\n<h4><b>Relegation battle</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Facing relegation is nothing new for the Knights, who were the first team to go down, after the domestic system was restructured, in 2022/23.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the Free State side made their way back up after dominating division two last season, although they are now likely to yo-yo their way back down again.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I’m surprised they find themselves in this situation, as I believed they had been performing adequately,” Lions coach Russell Domingo said.</span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2662082\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2560\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-2662082\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/TL_2322929-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1370\" /> <em>Jean du Plessis of the Warriors and Lhuan-dre Pretorius of the Titans during day 2 of their Four-Day Domestic Series match at St George's Park on 20 December 2024 in Gqeberha, South Africa. (Photo: Richard Huggard / Gallo Images)</em>[/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2662075\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2560\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-2662075\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/TL_2315102-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1606\" /> <em>Tiaan van Vuuren and Isaac Dikgale of the Knights in action against Western Province at Newlands on 9 December 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: Grant Pitcher / Gallo Images)</em>[/caption]\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Knights finished tied on points with the Dolphins in the CSA T20 Challenge and had a better net-run rate, but the Dolphins finished ahead on the log.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Had the Knights finished in seventh and not eighth, they would have only been one point behind the Warriors, instead of two on the cumulative promotion/relegation points table.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Warriors found themselves in a world of trouble on day one of their final four-day series match against the Dolphins yesterday after they were on 40 for the loss of four wickets in the morning session.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It took a brilliant fightback by Warriors skipper Senuran Muthusamy, alongside Jordan Hermann, as the pair put on a hundred-run partnership to rescue their side.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A big loss for the Warriors and the Knights somehow scraping a win would have meant likely relegation for the men from the Eastern Cape.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On top of both the four-day and cumulative standings are the Lions, who look poised to host the final of the four-day series again, having opened up a substantial lead over the chasing pack of the Titans and Dolphins, with one of the two chasers battling it out for the second spot in the final.</span>\r\n<h4><b>Top of the charts</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prior to the start of the final round of fixtures, it was actually Knights opener Lesego Senokwane who was atop the run-scoring charts with 559 in 10 innings.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hermann and Boland’s Grant Roelofsen have since taken over in the ongoing matches and they are both approaching 600 runs for the season.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Western Province all-rounder George Linde has also been among the highest run getters with 521 with a highest score of 121.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the wicket-taking charts, it’s the spinners who have dominated with Boland leg spinner Shaun von Berg and Dolphin’s off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen top of the pile with a bucket load of 34 wickets a piece.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Warriors seamer Beyers Swanepoel is the only seamer on the charts, with 29 scalps, while Kyle Simmonds and Tshepo Ndwanda, of Western Province and the Titans, sit on 25 and 21 respectively. </span><b>DM</b>",
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Jean du Plessis of the Warriors and Lhuan-dre Pretorius of the Titans during day 2 of their Four-Day Domestic Series match at St George's Park on 20 December 2024 in Gqeberha, South Africa. (Photo: Richard Huggard / Gallo Images)
Tiaan van Vuuren and Isaac Dikgale of the Knights in action against Western Province at Newlands on 9 December 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: Grant Pitcher / Gallo Images)