SPORT: Warriors chase Cup glory
All eyes on one-day cup final at Kingsmead
EASTERN Cape cricket fans will be hoping the third time is the charm as the Warriors square up against the Dolphins in the Momentum One-Day Cup cricket final at Kingsmead in Durban today. The Warriors have endured some heartache in the last year, having lost twice away to the Titans in consecutive white ball domestic finals.
Their record in limited overs cricket is a good one, although their last piece of silverware came back in 2010.
However, their appearance in today’s final will be their third in the four showpieces contested over the last 12 months or so.
They will be desperate to pull this one off against a Dolphins side they know they can beat in their own back yard.
Jon-Jon Smuts’s team did just that two weeks ago when the home side could only muster 207 and the Warriors romped home by seven wickets with five overs to spare.
“We will definitely take something out of that win,” Warriors interim coach Rivash Gobind said yesterday.
“But you know the old cliche that it’s a once-off game and anything can happen and all that.
“Durban is very dependent on conditions. On the day you can get an absolute belter where you can make 360 and it can be chased and then you can get a day on which 200 can be defended,” Gobind said.
The caretaker coach, who will be able to give his bosses at Cricket Eastern Cape a proper nudge regarding full-time employment if the Warriors win tonight, said his squad had done more than he could have asked for over the past few weeks after a slow start to the competition.
“It’s been a great effort, especially in the second half after the first five games we played. Everybody has grown in their particular roles and started to produce performances which had led to better results.” The Warriors may have had to scrap to get into the semifinals of this competition but they certainly know how to compete in knockout games.
The Titans will attest to that after Smuts and company steamrollered over them in the semifinal in Centurion earlier this week. They also played in two finals last season.
“It’s great to have those recent experiences and there’s a lot of learning that’s been going on,” Gobind said.
“The main thing for the guys to realise is that it’s just another game of cricket. There’ll obviously be a few more people in and a few more eyes on the game but the basics of what we are trying to do are still going to get us the result we want at the end of the day.”
A massive contributing factor at Centurion on Tuesday was how the Warriors were able to get off to a flyer with the bat thanks to the on-fire Gihahn Cloete (56) and fellow opener Lesiba Ngoepe (69).
“If you can get off to great starts in one-day cricket, it puts you in a fantastic position,” Gobind said.
“That partnership (115) was a really special one under some extreme pressure in a knockout game and against a really good side. That is positive for us.”
Another important cog in the team, fast bowler Sisanda Magala, will face a delayed fitness test before the toss today.
“He’s pretty keen to play and he is quite strong mentally so that is a good sign that he may get on the park. He’s been very good with the new ball for us,” Gobind said.
“He’s bowled beautiful lengths and he and Andrew Birch have exercised good control. With the Dolphins setup, if we can get a few wickets with the new ball, we will be well among them.” Warriors squad: Gihahn Cloete, Edward Moore, Clyde Fortuin, Lesiba Ngoepe, Jon-Jon Smuts (capt), Christiaan Jonker, Colin Ackermann, Sisanda Magala, Andrew Birch, Lutho Sipamla, Ayabulela Gqamane, Anrich Nortje, Yaseen Vallie. ý The match will be televised live on SS2 from 1.30pm.