UFH need full on team effort

Ngam hopes high for Champs push

AFULL blown team effort is going to be needed if the Fort Hare University cricket team is to come out on top of the 2018 Momentum National Club Championships which get under way in Pretoria tomorrow.

Six club and university sides, representing the six franchises, will compete over five days, each side playing each other once, with the team on top of the table at the end crowned champions.

It is literally the best of the best and will see some ferocious battles over the coming week.

“If we want to compete at the club champs it is going to take the whole team and when I look at my team we don’'t have any outright stars,” explained Fort Hare coach Mfuneko Ngam.

“Yes we do have guys like Jerry Nqolo, Calana, Sekhukhune and Langa and all those guys have play at a provincial level, but we don’t really have those big names where you say if they do badly you’re going to lose.

“So it is going to be a team effort and all 13 players that I am taking are quality. Everyone can play a big role with either the bat or ball and I am confident in whoever plays on the day will do the job.

“It is a balanced team in that we have three spinners, three seamers and a lot of in-between bowlers and on the batting front almost everyone in the squad can bat, so it will really be a team effort.”

Most of the Fort Hare players will know exactly what to expect, having taken part in last year’s club champs where they struggled and were unable to come away with a win.

They will look to use that experience and make sure that they don’t make the same mistakes this time round and put in a much better showing.

“The funny thing is we have been ready for the challenge ever since we started the league. We told ourselves at the start of the season that every game we played was going to be in preparation for the club champs, so every game we played has been according to what we wanted to achieve.

“Some of the games we played last year were very close and it was just an error that saw the match get away from us.

“We are well aware of the standard of cricket at the club champs as we played a number of these teams last year,. We know they will have a number of franchise stars in their teams.”

First up for Fort Hare will be the challenge of Dolphins representatives, Crusaders, who won the competition in 2016 and will be one of the favourites again this year.

Ngam has personal knowledge of the opposition and will be hoping for a good performance against them.

“You never know who you are going to get with the Crusaders team as they have a lot of Dolphins players in their squad,” said Ngam.

“When I was in Durban I also played for Crusaders so I know what they like and the quality of players they have.

“So it is going to be a really tough game upfront.”