Puttick’s special knock was something spectacular for him and his dad – Ramela

CAPE COBRAS captain Omphile Ramela has saluted the character of his opening partner Andrew Puttick.

The veteran left-handed opener missed the second match of the Cobras’ Sunfoil Series campaign due to the illhealth of his father. However, Puttick,

showed a great deal of character to come out and play the first home game of the season last weekend against the Warriors.

It was clear during the Warriors’ first innings that Puttick was still affected by what was happening domesticaly, as he dropped two catches at slip that he would normally take easily. It was not until he had the bat in his hand that the 35-year-old could focus on the job.

“On the morning of my innings, I said ‘Hi’ to my dad and he gave me a smile and a wink, which I will treasure for some time,” Puttick told the Cobras’ official website.

He later played superbly after having visited his sick father, staying at the crease for close on seven hours to compile a patient 124 off 320 balls. The length of the innings was significant for it formed part of a marathon 266-run opening stand with Ramela (170 off 370 balls) which ensured the Cobras survived any scares in response to the Warriors’ 525/7 declared.

“It was a special knock. He created something spectacular for him and his father,” Ramela said of Puttick’s 25th first-class century.

The timing of the innings was also significant for the Cobras batsmen, especially the senior core, as they had struggled to get going in the new season. Prior to the Newlands run-fest, Puttick had scored just four runs in the 201617 campaign, while Ramela was only slightly better with 33 runs, despite having been to the crease two more times than his fellow left-hander.

Ramela certainly showed that once he negotiates the uneasiness of the newball spell, he is able to set out his stall for a lengthy innings.

The 170 against the Warriors is one of a string of big centuries that Ramela has scored over the past two seasons, which includes a double-hundred last season.

“We needed some runs under the belt. I think it is important in a four-day campaign that people start scoring big runs. I think as a team that is the standard we set for ourselves. It is important that we do it when we (are) under pressure too and there is a result to be chased, that’s when we need the big performances,” Ramela said.

The 28-year-old stressed that the Western Cape franchise still had plenty of work to do in order to haul in the Sunfoil Series leaders, the Knights. The Cobras are in last place on the standings as they are the only team without a victory in the competition and face another tough challenge when defending champions, the Titans, visit Newlands from tomorrow.

“I think we can definitely improve on the batting. If I am being ultra-critical we can bat quicker, but I think the state of the game dictated that we first had to get ourselves in a safe zone,” he said.

“I think there is lot of work to be done with regard to the bowling too.

“We didn’t bowl in partnerships. We didn’t create enough pressure on their batsmen. I think the next game we need to concentrate on putting good batsmen under pressure.”

The Cobras are set to hand former South Africa Under-19 wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne a franchise debut behind the stumps this week due to regular gloveman Dane Vilas flying off to Australia to join the Proteas for the Test series in Australia.