Old Boys on mission to hit paydirt
EL club carries hopes of EasternCape at T20 Cup
Buco Old Selbornian Cricket Club will carry the hopes of the Eastern Cape on their shoulders when they battle it out at the Multiply T20 Community Cup tournament in Pretoria over the coming weekend.
The team left for the club champs on Thursday and will be looking forward to testing their skills against some of the best club teams from around the country.
The annual tournament, now in its third edition, will see the franchise-winning club teams go up against each other to see who comes out on top.
Old Boys became the Warriors representatives when they as Border T20 winners beat Eastern Province reps Mechatronic Uitenhage in the franchise final last month.
“They have played a couple of Saturday games and the players are in good form, since the Eastern Cape final they have only lost one game, which was very close, so I am happy with their form,” said coach Andre de Beer.
“The guys are in a good space for the club champs which is great.
“For me as a coach I just need to manage them properly, I must make sure that I can get 100% out of each player on the day and if I can get that I feel like we stand a really good chance of winning club champs.”
The team will unfortunately be playing at the club champs without their provincial players, including club captain Bradley Williams, as they will be in action for Border against South Western Districts, however it is nothing new as they had the same problem during the Eastern Cape final.
From that group they are only missing one player, the club’s former captain, so Diego Jasson will be deputising for the club champs.
“The only player that is missing out from the EC final is the former captain Phil Badenhorst who has emigrated to New Zealand, so unfortunately he won't be there,” explained De Beer.
“Border is the only province who will have no provincial players representing their club side as they are playing SWD this week, but the team is used to this situation so does not mind.
“There is a really good team spirit going around which is always good.
“The guys are happy that with playing proper cricket they can pull through the difficult situations, and that is extremely important when it comes to club champs.”
The other teams taking part are Clares CC representing the Dolphins, Burma Lads CC for the Knights, Lions reps Delfos CC, defending champs Durbanville CC from Cape Town and Titans reps Kempston Park.
The teams will play each other once, with the side topping the log at the end crowned champion.
Old Boys will face Clares and Burma Lads on Friday's first day, then Delfos and Durbanville on day two and will close out the champs on Sunday morning against Kempston Park.
“We know one or two players in a few of the teams, but we are going there to play winning cricket,” said De Beer.