‘The Finisher’ does it for the Warriors
THE annual opening of the season came around a bit earlier than usual on Friday evening as Christiaan Jonker delivered his own timely dose of fireworks for the Warriors at St George’s Park, Port Elizabeth.
In a breathtaking display of power-hitting, the right-hander plundered five sixes and three fours off the Highveld Lions’ bowling attack while rattling up 49 not out off only 18 balls.
His swashbuckling effort resulted in the Warriors making light work of a stiff target of 153 as they romped home by six wickets with a remarkable 13 balls to spare.
“It was an awesome game,” Jonker said yesterday.
“Obviously, I didn’t expect that things would happen that way but I’m glad they did. It is good for the team and it builds good confidence.”
He was of course being modest. He did almost exactly the same thing against the Knights in the previous game when he belted an unbeaten 48 off 27 balls in Bloemfontein.
“I just backed myself and decided that any ball in my area I would take a chance with and we were behind the eightball a bit.
“I like that kind of situation. I like playing under pressure.”
His exploits in boundary-hitting under pressure and coming up trumps from i mpossible positions have earned him the nickname of “The Finisher”.
“That’s being going around for the last few years. It’s a good name. I like it, or maybe even ‘The Punisher’,” he joked.
“But I don’t really want to be boxed into being a certain category of player. I’d like to keep my options open for four-day cricket as well.”
The Warriors are currently in second position on the log standings, six behind the Titans but with a game in hand. They next play the Knights at St George’s Park on Wednesday evening starting at 6pm.
“Wednesday against the Knights is a new game and a new week and we take it one game at a time.
“If we can win that one and the Titans perhaps lose, the gap between us and them on the points standing will become smaller,” Jonker said.
Warriors captain Jon-Jon Smuts was full of praise for Jonker and has also referred to the St George’s Park crowd as the team’s 12th man.
“It’s great that Jonkie is in such good form. We know exactly what he is capable of that helps us when it comes to planning the timing of our runchases. We hope to see even more of the team’s fans here on Wednesday,” said Smuts.