Africa Cup showdown set for EL
Border gearing up for Buffalo Park T20 pool
MAJOR provincial cricket action is heading back to East London after it was announced that Border Cricket would be hosting a pool phase of the third annual Africa Cup T20 competition at Buffalo Park in September.
The Africa Cup is fast becoming one of the most anticipated events on the cricketing calendar as it kicks off the cricket season and gives fans a fun taste of things to come before the regular season gets into full swing.
Border hosted a leg of the competition last year, but rain washed out two of the three days of play, which saw the pool decided by lucky draw, with Zimbabwe going through and Border will be hoping for a different outcome this year.
“I am very happy to see us hosting a leg of the Africa Cup tournament this year,” said
Border coach Frank advantage and playing in front of our home support will give us an extra boost.”
Border were afforded the chance to host one of the pools in the competition after Free State Cricket pulled out as a host venue following the Mangaung Oval’s selection as a host ground for the T20 Global League which gets under way in November/December.
This is reportedly because of the volume of traffic their pitches will have to handle, which includes their domestic franchise and provincial cricket as well as a Sunfoil Test match and a KFC T20 International match against Bangladesh.
For Border it is a hollow consolation after they themselves missed out as a host city for the T20 Global League, however they will be looking to put on a show none the less.
“It is always nice to host an event like this [Africa Cup T20], it brings more people to our facilities and Buffalo City and hopefully when the chance to be a host city in the Global T20 comes around again we will have better luck in becoming a host,” said Plaatjes.
The first leg of the 2017 Africa Cup T20 competition will get under way from August 25-27 in Benoni, with the second from September 13 in Potchefstroom and third from September 8-10 in Kimberley.