Border hitters must come out firing
A much improved batting performance will be needed from Border if they are to challenge neighbours Eastern Province in their Cricket South Africa 3-Day and 1-Day Challenge matches in Port Elizabeth from Thursday.
Border’s season openers against KwaZulu-Natal Coastal did not go to plan on the batting front, with Border struggling to a draw in the rain-affected three-day game after posting scores of 130 all out and 126/5, while in the one-day game they were all out for 192, chasing a low total.
With the Border side being a young and relatively inexperienced one, led by a very young captain in 19-year-old Jason Niemand, the senior players will need to come to the fore.
A lot will rest on the form of senior batsmen such as Somila Seyibokwe and Marco Marais in the middle-order and allrounder Clayton Bosch towards the end of the innings.
“From the club games over the past weekend most of my batters got runs and spent some good time in the middle, so I am happy with that and hopefully they can bring that form into the match against EP,” said Border coach Frank Plaatjes.
“Marco is normally fired up when it comes to taking on EP, so hopefully he can be in the same form that he was the last time he played them.
“Somila is always an integral part of our lineup at the top of the order, while Clayton often gives us valuable runs towards the end of an innings, so hopefully they will be up for it in the coming days.”
Another challenge Border will have to overcome will be playing the two matches at different grounds.
With the Warriors still in action on day four of their franchise match against the Knights at St George’s Park on Thursday, the Border and EP three-day match will take place at Nelson Mandela University, with Sunday’s one-day match then returning to St George’s.
“It normally is a challenge because playing three-day cricket on a club (university) field is usually different to playing three-day cricket at a firstclass venue,” said Plaatjes.
“The problem is that the soil content is different and the outfield is not the same quality, while the wicket may also dry out quite quickly, although I stand to be corrected on that.
“But the good thing is that both teams are facing the same problems, so we are just looking forward to the challenge and we are looking to put in a good performance.”
Border will be eager to walk away with two wins, which would kickstart their campaigns on both fronts and put them in a good space, with their next games taking place towards the end of November.
“The players are in a good frame of mind,” said Plaatjes.
“It is a local derby, so there is also the added incentive of getting bragging rights over our closest competitors. So that will also be a motivating factor,” he said.
The action gets under way at NMU at 10am on Thursday morning, while the one-day match will take place on Sunday from 9.30am at St George’s Park.
It is a local derby, so there is also the added incentive of getting bragging rights