In-form Hermann aims to build on explosive start
Explosive left-hander Jordan Hermann hopes to build on his sensational debut for the Dafabet Warriors, who face the Hollywoodbets Dolphins at St George’s Park on Thursday (10am) in a CSA 4-Day Franchise Series clash.
The young opening batsman, who made his debut for the Warriors in this format against the Gbets Rocks in Paarl last week, burst onto the scene to score an unbeaten 187 off 281 deliveries (23 fours and five sixes) in their second innings.
The Eastern Cape side needed a whopping 370 runs for an unlikely victory and Hermann bagged more than half of those to steer the Warriors to a comprehensive seven-wicket win.
The 20-year-old said the nerves kicked in when he reached the 90s, but having the experienced Wihan Lubbe at the other end had a great calming effect on him.
“It was nice having him there, he has a very calming presence in the middle,” Hermann told The Herald.
“We have a similar sense of humour so at times we would share a joke, but the chats between us were fairly basic — just trying to stay focused on the task at hand.
“When I got into the 90s, it was a bit nervy, but I just tried to stick to the plans, and up until I reached the late 90s they had a period where they bowled good lines and lengths, so we just tried to ride the wave until they gave us something we could capitalise on.”
Hermann said after crossing the three-figure mark he did not feel the need to cut loose and try to chase the score down faster.
“With the match situation and the massive score we had to chase, I always knew that just a hundred would not be sufficient and for the team to be in the best position, I needed to carry on.
“With the total we had to chase, it was easier to keep myself calm after reaching the mark because of the importance of me sticking around for as long as possible,” he said.
Hermann said the valuable knock by Rudi Second, who blitzed a half-century off just 44 balls, also took some of the pressure off his shoulders towards the back end of the chase.
Looking ahead to playing his first professional match at St George’s Park, Hermann said: “If you apply yourself at St George’s Park, you can score runs.
“It is a Test match venue and it will be very exciting to play there.”