WARRIORS PLAYERS PICKED FOR SIXES SIDE
Side out to get first win of season after good play ends in two draws
AN encouraging start to this season’s Sunfoil Series cricket competition has the Warriors handily placed after two draws in as many games. Having drawn their opening match against the Lions, the Eastern Cape franchise pushed hard at the weekend, but had to settle for another stalemate against the Cobras at St George’s Park on Sunday.
In their first home match of the competition, the Warriors put in a solid performance, led by a superb all-round effort from captain Jon-Jon Smuts.
However, an early end to proceedings scuppered their chances of picking up a win after they had reduced the Cobras to 131/6, as the visitors chased 252 for victory.
“I was very happy with the way we played. We played four good days of cricket so I am proud of the guys, and it was just a pity we couldn’t get the win,” Smuts said.
“I think the weather let us down a bit in the end, but it is very exciting to see all facets of our performance working.”
It has been a strange start to this season’s competition, with no team having managed to get a win after two games, with six draws battled out so far.
This has left the Warriors in fourth place on the log, a slender 1.9 points off the third-placed Titans and just 2.1 points off the top-of-the-table Knights.
“I think what has happened the last few years in four-day cricket is that there haven’t been many draws and with the competition starting earlier than usual this year, it has been difficult to get results, especially up-country, as wickets haven’t yet broken up much,” Smuts said.
Smuts sits on top of both the Sunfoil Series batting and bowling logs, having amassed 278 runs and picked up 10 wickets in the two games so far, while Warriors opener Eddie Moore sits third on the batting log with 237 runs.
The solid showing of the team is a further boost as they will be looking forward to the return of star players Colin Ingram, Colin Ackermann and Simon Harmer, who will be arriving back in South Africa in the coming weeks from playing county cricket in England.
“It is exciting to be getting a few of the big guys back from England. They add a lot of value to the team and they are a massive inspiration to the younger guys in the squad,” Smuts said.
“But it is fantastic to see how the team has been playing without them. It is great to have such good competition in the squad at the moment, and this only bodes well for the team.”
The Warriors now head into a challenging run of fixtures in the Sunfoil Series, where they will be playing the next four games away from home, beginning with a big match-up against the Titans in Benoni starting on Friday.
The Titans were the thorn in the Warriors’ side last season, beating them in the final of both the T20 and one day competitions, so it will be interesting to see how the sides fare in their first four day match of the season.
The Warriors versus Titans match gets under way at Willomoore Park in Benoni at 10am on Friday.