SWD stalwart Baartman will challenge rejuvenated Cobras in Oudtshoorn
The Cape Cobras won't be ditching their attacking brand of cricket against the defending Sunfoil Series-champions, the VKB Knights, when the two teams meet in a Sunfoil Series clash at the Recreation Ground in Oudtshoorn Friday 6 October.
The Cape Cobras will be without their strike bowler, Dane Paterson, in the match. The progress report on their inspirational captain, Dane Piedt, is positive.
He was struck on the forearm at St George Park in Port Elizabeth by Anrich Nortjé but an X-ray-examination revealed no fracture and he is on course to wear the captain's arm band again.
The top-order batsman Justin Ontong is nursing a finger injury, but is continuously receiving medical support and is upbeat about his chances to continue his dominant form with the blade against the Knights.
Ontong hammered 128 in the corresponding match in Bloemfontein against the Knights a few weeks ago.
The Bloemfontein-based team will be strengthened by the return of the menacing Marchant de Lange, a strike bowler whose bouncer could cause serious bodily harm.
Otniel Baartman, who captured 14/56 for South Western Districts in the 2016/2017-season against KwaZulu-Natal, will return to his old stomping ground, wearing a VKB Knights-hat.
David Miller, swashbuckling middleorder batsman of the Knights, was not at a Bloemfontein practice on Tuesday. There is still uncertainty surrounding his selection.
Coach Ashwell Prince said he is pretty happy with the batting performance of the WSB Cape Cobras, as they have strung together 14 fifty-run partnerships and struck five tons in the first two four-day games of the season. But he is more critical of the bowling attack. Prince was at pains to emphasise the importance of bowlers assessing the conditions expertly and making adjustments accordingly. That means that the Cobras must build pressure more consistently and force the batsmen into fatal errors.
The Cobras also have two superb additional spinners, GF Linde and Kyle Simmonds, at their disposal.
Prince said on Tuesday the selectors are prepared to look at South Western Districts, Boland and Western Province and select semi-professional players who have recently made an impression as the WSB Cape Cobras are in a transitional phase.