Warriors face uphill battle
WITHOUT appearing too pessimistic or negative, it appears that the Warriors, the Eastern Cape cricket franchise, has virtually kissed away their chances of advancing to the play-offs of the Momentum One-Day Cup competition this season.
Their two losses during the past few days at Buffalo Park against the Highveld Lions and the Multiply Titans tell their own story. After scoring over 300 against the Lions, a fine innings from the Lions’ number four batsman Rassie van der Dussen saw the visitors home with two balls to spare last Thursday.
Then on Sunday, disaster struck again. This time the Warriors bowlers were on song, bowling an excellent line and length and the team fielded well and in the end the champions were restricted to a mediocre 250 runs in their 50 overs.
But the Warriors collapsed for 129, to lose by 121 runs.
Possibly the reason was psychological, with memories stretching back to the Momentum final last season when the Titans scored 425 runs and routed the Warriors for a 236-run victory.
Having played as many as seven – out of 10 – games, the Warriors are second to last on the log, with seven points, just one point above the Knights who are on six points but have two games in hand.
Meanwhile the Dolphins top the log with 21 points after six matches, with the Titans on 19 from the same number of games. The Cobras and the Lions are comfortably settled in at three and four.
The Warriors tackle log-leaders, the Dolphins at Kingsmead on Friday, then return to Buffalo Park next Wednesday for the Knights. Their final round-robin fixture is against the Cobras at St George’s Park on Friday, January 26.
Still, Warriors captain Jon-Jon Smuts remains confident that the Eastern Cape franchise can reach the play-off stages of the competition at the end of the month.
“Yes, we have three tough matches ahead, but two of them are home games, and if we play well we can hopefully win all three, pick up the points on offer, and get through to the play-offs,” Smuts said from Port Elizabeth yesterday.
Smuts added that the loss of top batsman Colin Ingram, now playing in Australia, has been a big factor in the Warriors’ performances.
“We’ve really missed him,” he said, but then added that he was pleased that some youngsters had been introduced by coach Rivash Gobind in recent matches.