Border out to crack whip in Park cruncher
CRACKING cricket is on the cards as the Border semiprofessional cricket team heads into battle against North West in their Sunfoil three-day Cup match at Buffalo Park today.
It is the opening match of the season for Border and they are looking to get off to the best possible start.
“We want to start the season with a good win,” said Border coach Frank Plaatjes.
“North West have been one of the form teams in the competition over the past two seasons, so it is going to be very tough, but we are confident we can get a positive result.”
North West began their three-day Cup campaign with a draw against KwaZulu-Natal earlier this month and they will be aiming to build on that performance against Border.
The Border players have been hard at work in training to gear up for the match and will have to hit the ground running today.
“We have enjoyed a good week of training and the guys are looking sharp, so I think they are ready for the match,” claimed Plaatjes.
“The guys can’t wait for the game to start, they are really pumped-up and ready to play.”
Border have traditionally done well at home in the competition so they will aim to use their home-ground advantage over the three days.
“Playing at home is always a boost for the guys,” admitted Plaatjes.
“They know the ground and conditions, which suit us a lot more than if we played them away, so we will look to use that in the match.”
Border captain Martin Walters will be looking to lead from the front and get his top order to fire if Border bat first today, while his bowlers will be expected to do the job if called on to bowl first at the toss. Regardless of what they do first, Border will need to be firing on all cylinders in all three departments if they want to claim a positive result against a dangerous North West.
Following the three-day game, Border will take on North West in a CSA oneday competition match on Sunday, in what should be an exciting game with a number of big hitters in both teams.
North West thumped KZN in their opening match by 149 runs, so they will be very confident heading into the game.
Border have, however, won the one-day competition twice in the past four seasons, so have enjoyed considerable success in the shorter format and will want to do well again this season.
“We have always been a good one-day unit, so it is one of our season goals to win silverware again and we will be targeting the competition,” said Plaatjes.
“We have a well-rounded team with some big hitters and a good bowling unit and I believe they can do the job against North West.”
Today’s game gets under way at 9am, while Sunday’s one-day match will start at 9.30am.