The North West Dragons are gunning for a home semi-final in the CSA T20 Challenge when they face the Lions in Potchefstroom on Saturday.

As it stands going into the final round this weekend the Dragons, Lions and Titans are already through to the knockout rounds, while all the other teams are still in for a shout, albeit some are in much stronger positions.

Marco Jansen. Photo: Dragons

The Lions will head to Potchefstroom seeking to set the record straight after being stunned by Western Province with a four-wicket defeat at the Wanderers on Wednesday night. In addition, the Dolphins beat the Knights by 6-wickets in Bloemfontein and Boland beat the Warriors by 11-runs in Paarl. This has blown the log wide open and five teams will fight for the last spot in the semi-finals.

The Dragons have been the form team in the T20 Challenge and had it not been for a rained out match against the Titans and their defeat to the Warriors, they would have already secured the top spot in the log.

The Dragons captain, Wihan Lubbe, told OFM Sport that it’s definitely and exciting that five teams can still reach the knockout rounds and it’s good for the fans as well as the competition.

“I agree, I think Wednesday night's results definitely spice it up a bit,” said the former Proteas batter.

“I mean, teams that you almost thought were written off a couple of weeks ago are now in with a shout. So yeah, for the neutral fan, it's definitely awesome that so many teams are sort of fighting for that last spot going into the last round of fixtures.

“There are no dead-rubbers, which is always nice in any competition.”

Lubbe added that the goal is to finish strong in order to secure the top spot, while they will just continue to focus on their own processes and game.

“Just regarding our game against the Lions, the team they have got, you always expect a sort of high quality performance from them, but especially after Wednesday night, I think they'll be kind of kicking themselves.

Lesiba Ngoepe and Janneman Malan. Photo: Dragons

“But either way, we knew after the Titans rain out already that Saturday determines the first spot. That's what we're gunning for, and I think, obviously, they'll be gunning for the same.

“But in saying that I agree, our focus throughout the comp and throughout the sort of last season has been on taking care of what we can take care of off the field, making sure our prep is done and our head spaces are on the right zones.

“We're just touching base on a few last little things and then, yeah, we go again on Saturday.”

Saturday’s match at the JB Marks Oval gets underway at 14:00.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek