Warriors up for a royal playoff battle with Knights
RECENT results will count very little when the Warriors travel to face the Knights in the Momentum One-Day Cup playoff in Bloemfontein tomorrow.
The Warriors beat the Knights twice in the roundrobin stages of this campaign. The first was a low-scoring affair in Kimberley and the other a run-laden match in Port Elizabeth, where the Knights came a lot closer than perhaps they should have.
But Warriors coach Malibongwe Maketa yesterday dismissed previous showings, saying the team who pitches and holds their nerve on the day will book themselves a spot in the final against the Titans in Centurion on Friday.
“That [victories] will count for nothing,” Maketa said.
“It's a play-off game and it's about who rocks up on the day that will take it.
“But as I have said in the past, we have been involved in three knockout games since I've been in charge.
“So we have that experience and hopefully we can channel that experience in Bloemfontein and claim a spot in the final.”
The Warriors qualified for the playoff with a 36-run Duckworth-Lewis Method victory over the Lions in a rain-affected, final pool game at St George’s Park on Thursday.
On a slow surface, the Warriors’s spinners were once again superb and put the skids on the Lions batsmen with Jon-Jon Smuts taking four wickets.
Smuts then made a quick 50 with good support from Gihahn Cloete and wasted no time against the new ball in getting the team off to a flying start.
Strangely, when their wickets fell, the middle order appeared to creep into its shell and inexplicably pushed and prodded in trying to get home.
“It was not an easy pitch to bat on and the way Jon-Jon Smuts and Gihahn Cloete batted up front is how we planned it,” Maketa said.
“Unfortunately we lost a couple of wickets and then showed some jitters which was not good to see. But importantly we learn from that experience and move on to a big knockout game against the Knights on Sunday,” Maketa said.
The Knights are unlikely to prepare a surface which suits the Warriors’s effective spin attack so it may come down to how the seamers perform.
Andrew Birch, although not taking too many wickets, has been economical since coming back from injury and could be a trump card.
Sisanda Magala has struggled at times this season but has lately shown glimpses of the good form he displayed for the Eastern Cape franchise last season.
The other seamer, Aya Gqamane, started off this campaign very well but seems to have gone off the boil a bit in recent games.
He will be looking to make a big impression counts.
Warriors : Colin Ackermann, Colin Ingram, Gihahn Cloete, Aya Gqamane, Andrew Birch, Lesiba Ngoepe, Jerry Nqolo, Jon-Jon Smuts (capt), Yaseen Vallie, Basheer Walters, Kelly Smuts, Sisanda Magala, Anrich Nortje.
Knights: Patrick Botha, Mbulelo Budaza, Marchant de Lange, Leus du Plooy, Dillon Du Preez, David Miller, Grant Mokoena, Tshepo Ntuli, Diego Rosier, Rudi Second, Aubrey Swanepoel, Pite van Biljon, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Lwandilwe Zuma. — reevesa@timesmedia.co.za when it