Double defending champions YesPlay Western Province and last season’s finalists, the DP World Lions, are ready to go again as the Hollywoodbets Pro Series gets underway this weekend.
The latest season of South Africa’s women’s premier domestic competition will once again see the Hollywoodbets Pro50 action played on Saturdays, followed by the Hollywoodbets Pro20 tournament on Sundays.
In the opening round on 03-04 October, the Cobras will host the Garden Route Badgers at the YesPlay Newlands Cape Town Stadium while the Lions travel to the newly-promoted Warriors in Gqeberha.
In the third clash of the weekend, the Fidelity Titans will face the Hollywoodbets Dolphins at the TUT Oval in Tshwane.
For Cobras batter Faye Tunnicliffe, last season’s success means the champions will have an added target on their backs this time around.
“I think we know we’re going to have targets on our backs, so we just kind of want to maintain that level that we ended off on last season, and hopefully we can take the winning momentum forward into the new season,” Tunnicliffe said.
The experienced batter, who claimed the 2025/26 Pro20 Player of the Season award after amassing 422 runs in eight innings, believes the team’s strength lies in the environment they have created within the squad.
“I think it’s really just the camaraderie and the rapport within the team. We play for each other. We don’t have selfish players in the team, so we know that when we go out, we’re trying to perform for the badge.
“We have a lot of hard workers in the team as well, so we push each other, whether that’s fitness or skills or anything. We’re pretty competitive in the nets with each other as well, so we’re just looking to always get better and find that one percent.”
For the Lions, the new season brings an opportunity to go one step further after finishing runners-up in both competitions, despite finishing top in the Pro20 and Pro50 log standings.
“Expectation hasn’t changed. I think us getting to two finals, that’s still going to be an expectation. But obviously we want to, when we get to those situations, to do one better, obviously, to win those two finals,” the Lions coach, Sandile Masengemi, said.
The disappointment of the two defeats has also provided added motivation during the pre-season.
“To lose those two finals really made us a little bit hungry for this coming season. So obviously we were hurting so much,” he added.
The Lions have placed a particular focus on their mindset during the off-season as they look to build on last year’s performances, which saw them record 13 victories out of 22 encounters across both formats.
“I think the biggest thing for me that we worked on this pre-season is our mindset. I think we do have the skill, just a change of mindset, allowing the players to play with a little bit of freedom to express themselves, play positive cricket.”
While the two sides begin the season with different motivations, Tunnicliffe believes the overall standard of the Hollywoodbets Pro Series, entering its third season, will continue to grow as more players bring experience from national and Emerging environments back into their provincial teams following an active winter for the Proteas Women and SA Emerging.
“I think there’s also been a lot more exposure to national camps and stuff like that, so there are more senior players that are taking what they’ve learned at national level into the provincial spaces.
“We’ve been professional now for a couple of years, so this is where the wheel really starts to turn, and we kick on.
“Hopefully we can consistently see those 300-plus scores in 50 overs and 160 to 180 scores in the T20s.”
With the rest of the competition looking to close the gap, Tunnicliffe says the Cobras are determined to keep setting the standard.
“I think we’ve always been a team that wants to keep pushing the standard of women’s cricket in the country, so I think we just want to keep doing that.
“I think people will be aware that we know that we’re defending champions, so they’re going to come hard at us, but hopefully we can come back harder.”
Hollywoodbets Pro Series – Week 1 (03-04 October)
Hollywoodbets Pro50 – Saturday, 03 October at 10:00
- YesPlay Western Province Cobras vs Garden Route Badgers (YesPlay Newlands Cape Town)
- Warriors vs DP World Lions (Dafabet St George’s Park, Gqeberha)
- Fidelity Titans vs Hollywoodbets Dolphins (TUT Oval, Tshwane)
Hollywoodbets Pro20 – Sunday, 04 October at 10:00
- YesPlay Western Province Cobras vs Garden Route Badgers (YesPlay Newlands Cape Town)
- Warriors vs DP World Lions (Dafabet St George’s Park, Gqeberha)
- Fidelity Titans vs Hollywoodbets Dolphins (TUT Oval, Tshwane)
