Warriors stepping up for Cubs week
The best U19 cricket players of the Eastern Cape are ready to to impress for the Warriors Cubs team as they get set for their Cubs week opener against the Knights in Stellenbosch on Thursday morning.
The side selected from the Border and Eastern Province teams that took part in the 2018 Coca-Cola Khaya Majola week last month, as well as a few exciting youngsters from the national U17 week, will be hoping to get off to a good start.
“I am quite happy with the team. I think it is going to be a different ball game this year as I don't think Border or EP had a great Coke week, so a lot of the players haven't fired as we had hoped, so I think they will be going into the Cubs week all guns blazing,” said Border Coke week coach Andre de Beer, who is coaching the side along with EP's Andre du Plessis.
“We are here to contend, we want to win and we are going to work hard and fight until the end and I believe we can come out on top.
“The Cubs week is always a tough challenge because it is the best of our the provinces playing in the franchise sides.”
Training has been tough for the players, with the festive season in full swing and due to the entire team not able to get together, but sessions were held by both sides.
“We tried to get the guys together for a few sessions on each side, the Border guys in EL and the EP guys in PE, so they had separate sessions to keep them sharp and we will have one session this afternoon (Wednesday) with the whole squad together to go over a few things before tomorrow's match,” explained de Beer.
Border captain Matt Dewar is in line to captain the side and he will be leading a number of talented players who will be eager to prove their worth and show what they can do.
“We are looking at Matt Dewar as our captain, we will confirm it when we have our team talk and discussion tonight (Wednesday), I am happy for him and believe he is a fantastic leader and can captain this team very well over the week,” admitted de Beer.
“We have a number of decent players in the team, Tristan Stubbs and Nonelela Yikha both made SA schools, so their talent is undeniable, Matt Dewar and Luke Beaufort both scored centuries on the same day at the Coke week.
“So our batting department is really strong and we have some very exciting young up-andcoming bowlers who will also be looking to impress, so I think it is a well balanced team.”
At the Cubs week all the teams play each other in a round robin format and the team at the top at the end will win the week.
Following their opening match against the Knights, the Warriors Cubs will take on the Titans on day two, Cobras on day three, Lions on day four and finish the week off against the Dolphins on day five.
Our batting is really strong and we have some exciting bowlers