Fired up for explosive derby ties
Schools enter battle for T20 cricket showdowns
Excitement has reached fever pitch as the Coca-Cola Schools T20 Provincial quarterfinals is expected to be battled out across the Border region on Thursday afternoon.
Eight teams are left in the competition and that will be cut to just four teams by the end of Thursday’s play.
The semifinals and finals are then set to be played at Selborne College on Sunday.
The entire Border finals were supposed to have been played at Selborne College over the past weekend, but because of heavy rain on Friday and then the possibility of more rainfall over the weekend, a decision was taken to postpone the festival.
“It was an unfortunate situation, with the bad weather we did not know if the fields would be ready for play on Saturday.
“Then there was the possibility of more rain as well, so we decided to play it safe and postpone the games,” explained Border Youth coordinator Loyiso Sibaca.
“However, in terms of the games and strength of the teams, it will be interesting” Sibaca said.
“The teams have had more time to prepare now and they are pretty evenly matched, so it will be very close.”
The matches will see Selborne College hosting Queen’s, Hudson hosting Cambridge, Stirling High hosting Lilyfontein and Lindani High hosting the Alice Regional Performance Centre at Ngumbela Park in Healdtown.
This sees some very interesting derbies, with the two colleges drawn against each other, and rivals Hudson taking on Cambridge, while the two rural sides should also throw up a humdinger.
“There are going to be some very exciting derbies played and I would say it is too close to call,” said Sibaca.
“All the teams want to become the Border champion and have the chance to represent the Warriors at the national finals next month,” Sibaca added.
The two semifinals will get things under way in the morning, with the final battled out in the afternoon.
“Because we were not able to hold the festival this past weekend we still wanted to have a bit of a festival atmosphere, so we thought it would be best to have the semifinals and the final at Selborne,” said Sibaca.
“Those matches on Sunday will be the true measure of Border schools cricket at the moment and we are hoping that parents and supporters will come out in their numbers to watch the games, which should be very exciting,” he added.
Thursday’s action kicks off at all the venues at 2pm, with all matches expected to be finished by 5pm.
Sunday will then see a 9.30am start for the semifinals and a 2pm start for, what can be an exciting final.
All the teams want to become Border champion to be at National finals