Key EP man ruled out

Eastern Province cricket has suffered a major setback with Kelly Smuts being ruled out of action for the remainder of the season due to a stress fracture in his foot.

“This is a big loss for us. He is a massive part of our squad, averaging 46 with the bat and 15 with the ball, which are tremendous stats.

“He is a solid allrounder, who brings so much to the team,” coach Piet Botha said.

Botha was full of praise for his side after they convincingly beat Boland by 205 runs in the CSA 3-Day Provincial Cup at St George’s Park.

“I think we executed our plans well, and there were some good individual performances, so I could not have asked for more from the guys in terms of effort,” Botha said.

“Obviously, there were overcast conditions a lot of the time and we built some good partnerships at the back end of the innings, so that played a major role in us getting to a reasonable first innings score.”

He said the bowlers were also on point and they backed up EP’s first innings score.

Glenton Stuurman claimed a five-for and Siviwe Gidana took three wickets to help restrict Boland to 150.

“With a 104-run lead, we had to bat well to set a good target,” Botha said.

“We were in trouble at one stage at 120 for six, but once again, with some good batting at the end, we knew that leaving them with 370 was going to be a stiff task.”

With the loss of Smuts, and the likes of Thomas Kaber and Onke Nyako stepping up to the Warriors fold, Botha said this gave the younger players a chance to shine.

EP’s next assignment is in Johannesburg, where they face Gauteng from February 21.