Warriors welcome back fresh blood for four-dayers
There will be little time for the Dafabet Warriors players to rest as they look ahead to the resumption of the CSA 4-Day Franchise Series this weekend, head coach Robin Peterson said.
The Eastern Cape outfit do battle against the Six Gun Grill Cape Cobras at Newlands starting on Sunday, and despite the quick turnaround Peterson was confident his players were ready for the next chapter in this condensed season.
Peterson, whose charges have just returned from the bio bubble in Durban at the weekend, said there was now a quick turnaround as the focus shifted to cricket’s longer format.
The former Proteas spinner said a few players would be returning to the fold for the last two games and he believed it would bring a new energy into the team.
“The guys who were not part of the T20 squad have been getting on with their preparations while we were away.
“Rudi Second comes back, our captain Mo Vallie comes back in as well as Eddie Moore and Matthew Breetzke, who all come back into contention for a spot.
“It is good because it energises the group again,” he said.
He said the T20 squad would join the rest of the group later this week, when they would plot the way forward and discuss the approach to their final two first-class matches in their pool.
Speaking about his team’s performance in the Betway T20 Challenge, where they made the playoffs, Peterson said: “If you look at the amount of caps combined compared to other teams, we had a lot of guys playing their first franchise games.
“There were guys we were prepared to take a risk on, like Lizo Makhosi, who never looked out of place at that level and his skills will improve.
“Tristan Stubbs was outstanding, taking on Proteas and scoring runs, while Wihan Lubbe was brilliant with the bat. These are young boys in our system.
“Everyone chipped in and it was a team effort.
“I am proud of the resilience shown by the boys — they ended on a net positive run rate, which means they fought right to the end in all the games,” he said.
Speaking about the playoff match, Peterson said they always had the belief that they could be the Proteas-laden Lions.
“Our young boys were playing high-pressure cricket against good opposition.
“It can only bode well for them in terms of experience because if they come up against that sort of team in the future they will have even more belief in themselves.
“We went there and decided we were going to be courageous, take risks and be prepared to lose, to win.
“We might not have got the reward in the first three games, but we got it in making the playoffs.
“We deserved to be there simply for the style we played in and the courage we showed in playing the game.”