Team spirit wins day for Warriors
NOT since the glory days of Davy Jacobs’s allconquering white-ball Warriors has the Eastern Cape franchise performed as well as it did this past season.
In 2009-2010, Jacobs’s side cleaned up both domestic limited overs titles to collect the franchise’s first two pieces of silverware in their history. They later went on to make the Champions League T20 final, where they lost to a powerful Chennai Super Kings outfit.
But that side was loaded with Proteas stars in Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Johan Botha, Rusty Theron, Colin Ingram, Nicky Boje, Makhaya Ntini, Ashwell Prince, Wayne Parnell and Lonwabo Tsotsobe. They were supposed to win trophies.
The Class of 2017-2018 was nowhere near that strength and yet they managed to win the Momentum One-Day Cup, albeit a shared trophy with the Dolphins. They made the playoffs of the Ram Slam T20 and then came within a measly point-and-a-bit of clinching the Sunfoil Series, a trophy they have never won.
In a modern age where sports bodies and their athletes are always striving to improve, the Warriors can take heart from their undoubted progress.
There is a tangible upward curve in the fact that the team have been carrying the flag for this region over the past 24 months or so.
The secret to their success is that they have a very tightly-knit squad with very few egos to trip them up.
Jon-Jon Smuts has led the team superbly across all three formats of the game.
Kolpak players Colin Ingram, Colin Ackerman and Simon Harmer have all played their roles as senior players.
Fast bowler Sisanda Magala is a regular performer in the side and he too performs the role of experienced professional admirably.
Batsman Gihahn Cloete had his bright moments with the bat and young newcomer Tladi Bokako with ball.
Christiaan Jonker earned a long-overdue call-up to the Proteas T20 side.
And all the while new coach Rivash Gobind was quietly pulling the strings from within the dugout.
It is clear that this was a team effort and one with which Eastern Cape supporters can be proud.