Warriors shift focus to red-ball cricket
Eastern Cape side have plenty to play for in their next four-day matches
Having missed out on a place in the Betway T20 Challenge final, the Dafabet Warriors will shift their focus to CSA’s rescheduled 4-Day Domestic Series.
The Warriors travel to Cape Town to face the Cape Cobras in their next four-day match with plenty to play for.
Pool B is presently headed by the Titans, who have 75.58 points, 14 ahead of the secondplaced Warriors.
The Warriors ’ final pool match is against the Dolphins at St George ’ s Park the weekend after the Cobras clash and if the Eastern Cape franchise win both of them, they may have a chance of making the final depending on how the Titans perform in their last two matches.
The VKB Knights currently top Pool A and are front-runners to host the final based on the 87.94 points they have accumulated thus far.
The final will be contested by the two teams that finish top of their respective pools, with the team with the highest number of points reserving the right to host the match at a venue of their choice.
The five-day final is scheduled for March 25-29.
The Warriors were knocked
out of the T20 Challenge by losing the playoff by seven wickets to the Lions in Durban on Saturday, Temba Bavuma top scoring with an unbeaten 48.
Warriors captain Sinethemba Qeshile won the toss and chose to bat and they reached 141/6 with Wihan Lubbe and Tristan Stubbs top scoring with 52 and 37 respectively.
On a slow surface that proved difficult to bat on, the Lions reached the 142 target with five balls to spare after Wiaan Mulder hammered a maximum with the first ball of the last over.
The Lions ended the powerplay on 45/0 with openers Reeza Hendricks and Ryan Rickelton on 21 and 19 respectively.
After laying the foundation, Hendricks (32) and Rickelton (23) departed in quick succession from the bowling of JonJon Smuts and Mthiwekhaya Nabe respectively.
Then, experienced Proteas middle order batsmen Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen went about the rebuilding process with a defiant stand of 61 off 49.
Their partnership was broken when Nabe removed Van Der Dussen (17) but Bavuma and Mulder ensured that the Lions successfully reached their target of 143/3.
In their batting, the Warriors started with the first wicket partnership of 71 off 53 balls between Smuts and Wihan Lubbe as they frustrated the Lions bowlers.
The Warriors were 50/0 at the end of the first powerplay with Lubbe having made a contribution of 42 and Smuts on 7.
Their partnership was broken by Aaron Phangiso when he bowled Smuts for 23 and the wicket proved to be the start of a collapse as Sinethemba Qeshile, Lubbe and Lesiba Ngoepe followed.
Qeshile was trapped in front by Wiaan Mulder for one run, Lubbe was caught from the bowling of Sisanda Magala and Ngoepe was removed by Beuran Hendricks.
With the wickets of Lubbe, Magala and Ngoepe in quick succession, the Warriors lost the plot as they moved from 71/1 in the ninth over to 95.4 after 16 overs.
The Warriors recovered with a partnership between Tristan Stubbs and Ayabulela Gqamane that produced 45 off 30.
The partnership was broken when Stubbs was run out by Beuran Hendricks for 37 and Gqamane was run out by a combination of Reeza Hendricks and Ryan Rickelton.
Hendricks, Magala, Wiaan Mulder and Aaron Phangiso ended with one wicket apiece while Kagiso Rabada and Bjorn Fortuin were empty handed.