Blow for Border cricket as big-hitting Marco Marais signs with EP

The Border semi-professional cricket team suffered an early blow ahead of the new season when it was announced that star player Marco Marais had signed to play for Eastern Province over the coming season.

The blow was softened by the fact that recently named Border player of the season Marais was not expected to be available for the professional coaching setup at the Warriors.

“So we felt he has done a lot for Border, it will be good for him and his development to spend more time there at the Warriors and it was a fair request, especially since it will only be for this year, so we were happy to let him go for the season.” Marais will be in action for EP for the first time when he takes part in their Africa Cup T20 campaign this weekend. large portions of the campaign after a superb 2018/19 season saw him land his first Warriors professional contract.

He was thus expected to feature for the Warriors in most of their short format matches and possibly even a number of their longer format games during the 2019/20 season, meaning his game time for EP should be limited in any case.

The hole left by Marais will however be felt, as he has been a key part of the Border set-up over a number of years, in which time he has managed to set numerous batting records for the union.

These include hitting two consecutive T20 centuries during last seasons Africa Cup competition, where he was also crowned player of the tournament, and the pinnacle, scoring the fastest triple century in world first class cricket against EP almost two years ago.

However if things go to plan it will not be very long before Border sees Marais return.

“Look I had a good chat with Thando (Booi, Border cricket CEO) before I made my decision, so it wasn't just me packing my stuff and going,” explained Marais.

“I decided to play for EP this season just to make things easier for me to settle and train as much as possible with the Warriors, so in terms of logistics and stuff I don't have to travel a lot between Port Elizabeth and East London a lot.

“I also wanted to have a bit of a knew challenge, I have been at Border basically my entire career, so I now wanted to see how things are done a bit differently at other unions, I am excited to learn from Rivash (Gobind, Warriors head coach) at the Warriors and Piet Botha (coach) at EP.

“But once the knew system comes in like CSA are planning, if Border would have me back I would love to return and share everything that I have learnt over this coming season.”

Border CEO Thando Booi was very understanding of the situation and was happy to agree to Marais request, with the understanding that he would return to Border once the knew cricket system kicks in next season.

“I had a discussion with Marco earlier this year and he assured us of his commitment of playing for Border cricket, but he had just stepped up to the professional environment and he had not felt that he had cemented his place in the Warriors set-up,” said Booi.

“So he made a request to play for EP for the coming season so that he could settle and try and secure his place in the Warriors team and to aid his own development and ensure that he maximises his time amongst