There's something about the
Lions' last visit to four-day cricket that lingers. A draw against the
Warriors back in early December, scoring 580 across two innings before rain had its say. That's the sort of volume batting that doesn't just happen—it speaks to patience, conditions, and something clicking at the right time. The
Warriors, by contrast, made 387 in their only completed dig. Not poor, but not quite enough either.
What stands out to me is how both sides have spent the intervening months. The T20 Challenge ate up November, a format that rewards instinct over occupation, aggression over accumulation. The
Warriors had their moments there, winning five on the bounce at one point, though those margins—five runs here, one run there—were rarely comfortable. The
Lions were patchier, their results swinging between last-ball thrillers and heavy defeats. Switching back to red-ball mode is never seamless. Discipline returns slowly.
The
Warriors have home advantage, and in four-day cricket that matters more than we sometimes admit. Local knowledge of the bounce, familiarity with the light, even the rhythm of the groundstaff—it all adds up. Still, their recent first-class form is hard to read. One match since mid-November, a loss where they conceded nearly 400. That's a long time between red-ball contests, and rust can settle quietly.
The
Lions, meanwhile, will arrive with that December draw still somewhere in their muscle memory. Their batting depth looked formidable then, and though they've lost a couple of tight T20s since, that shouldn't matter here. The format rewards different virtues. It's hard to ignore their ability to bat time when they need to, even if the wickets column hasn't always followed.
If I'm leaning anywhere, it's cautiously toward the
Lions. Not because they're flawless—far from it—but because their last four-day outing suggested something closer to readiness. The
Warriors have the ground, but the
Lions may have the momentum, or at least the memory of how to build an innings. In a format this patient, that counts for more than we think.
