Giants welcome Tahir and Morris to squad
Nelson Mandela Bay Giants will have even more reason to head to the Mother City bursting with confidence as they welcome Proteas cricket stars Imran Tahir and Chris Morris into their squad this week.
The duo have returned from a successful tour of Australia with the South African team and will join up with a Giants squad which already has a skip in its step after beating the Jozi Stars by five wickets in their opening Mzansi League T20 encounter in Johannesburg on Saturday evening.
The tough part is that two players will have to make way for Tahir and Morris and Giants coach Eric Simons admits it will not be easy selecting his next starting line-up to face the Cape Town Blitz on Wednesday.
“We’ve always been a very balanced squad but the arrival of Imran Tahir and Chris Morris obviously adds new depth, new dimension and new experience to the side,” Simons said on Sunday.
“It’s always a nice position to be in when you can have good tough conversations about selection.
“Nobody deserves to be left out after the game, but obviously we have two international cricketers coming back and we want to out the best side in the field against Cape Town Blitz.
“They are also a very good team and we are looking forward to a very exciting game.”
The Giants got off to a nearperfect start chasing down the Stars’ modest total of 124 with two overs to spare on Saturday night.
“It’s obviously good to get off to a win in tournaments like these,” Simons said.
“There’s still a long way to go obviously but it’s good at the start of the tournament to get some momentum going, to get some confidence in the team.
“The entire squad is happy with the way that night went.
“To bowl any team out, no matter what the conditions are, for less than 130 is an exceptional performance.”
Proteas fast bowler Junior Dala was impressive for the Giants with the ball as were the two left-arm spinners Jon-Jon Smuts and Aaron Phangiso.
“We set a good tone up front. “Junior Dala bowled with good aggression and bowled a lot of deliveries that had the opposition jumping around. We had very specific strategies and plans for batsmen and I think there were some that were not quite on the mark.
“You want to keep sure you are moving towards being better and better.”
A bonus-point victory would have been extra special for the Giants, but once Man-of-the-Match Ben Duckett got out for 75 off 45 balls the team settled for the victory without taking any unnecessary chances.
“He batted particularly well and we were in a spot of bother I suppose with two down,” said Simons.
“I think that he’s made a statement in this tournament. In particular, where he scored his runs. He hit the ball very well square of the wicket from lines that one would not regularly expect to get hit in those areas. So the opposition will have noticed that and they will be strategising against him to see what tactics they use against him going forward.”