Brilliant Reeza Hendricks century fires Lions to stunning victory in 1-Day Cup final

Reeza Hendricks's spellbinding 15th limited-overs 100 guided the Lions to their first outright Cricket South Africa 1-Day Cup in six seasons after beating the Titans by three wickets at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday.

The Lions last won the title outright in the 2015/16 when Hendricks was still at the Knights, with the 2019/20 Covid-19-affected tournament going to the Dolphins due to better log positioning.

Last season's final was washed and the trophy had to be shared between the Lions and Dolphins, so in the bigger scheme of things, despite the excellence of the Titans in the tournament, the Lions were due this trophy at some point.

Reeza, who hasn't featured for the Proteas since the curtailed Netherlands ODI series at the end of last year, served a reminder of his enduring domestic excellence with a truly magnificent 157 off 135 balls.

It helped reel in the Titans' 318/6, which at first looked competitive after the trio of 50s from Corbin Bosch (79*), Sibonelo Makhanya (60) and Neil Brand (73).

In the face of Reeza's timely return to form, the Titans lacked the 100 from their set batters that would have made the total an insurmountable one.

That said, it was anyone's guess as to what would have been a defendable total, but the Titans did score the lowest of their 300-plus scores batting first this season and they chose the wrong game to do so.

It was Reeza's night and he dished out a plate of cold revenge against a side that nicked the Four-Day series from right under their noses.

Reeza, who hasn’t set the tournament alight, made the most of his life on five when Donavon Ferreira grassed a hard-hit chance at short-cover off Neil Brand.

He then proceeded to essay quite the magnificent and chanceless ton, with his