Badgers start 2022/23 season campaign in EL
The Six Gun Grill Garden Route Badgers start their new cricket season when they travel to East London today, Friday 30 September, for the Pool A knock-out stage of the Division 2 Twenty20 competition.
The matches are at Buffalo Park.
The Badgers (previously known as SWD) start their campaign under a new brand name, new head coach and new captain.
This tournament is a debut for newlyappointed head coach Piet Botha, while Onke Nyaku takes over the captaincy from Jean du Plessis, who recently underwent an ankle ligament construction operation.
The 28-year-old Nyaku made his firstclass debut in 2014 and went on to play 45 first class, 56 list A- and 47 T20 matches for Eastern Province, the Warriors, Cobras and SWD.
Du Plessis hopes to return to action in January 2023.
In the squad of 14 for the Badgers, the experienced bowler, Basheer Walters, opening batsman Matthew Christensen and left-arm seamer from the Titans, Jarred Jardine, debut for the Garden Route-based team.
The Badgers played the Paarl Rocks in a series of warm-up matches last weekend and the coach, Piet Botha, will take a lot of confidence out of these matches. “I am satisfied and excited about the new season after the weekend,” he said. “It is, however, now for the players to produce the desired results,” he concluded.
The top two teams in each of the two pools will advance to the semi-finals, which will be played on 8 October. The Badgers fixtures for the weekend are:
vs Limpopo Impala: Friday,
30 September
vs Northern Cape Heat: Saturday, 1 October
vs Eastern Cape Inyathi: Sunday,
2 October
The Garden Route Badgers squad is: André Malan (captain), Blayde Capell, Matthew Christensen, Onke Nyaku, Jhedli van Briesies, Hanno Kotze, Tyrece Karelse, Sean Whitehead, Herschel America, Pheko Moletsane, Jarred Jardine, Basheer Walters, Sintu Majiza and Marcello Piedt.
The coaching team is: Piet Botha (head coach), Gurshwin Rabie (assistant coach), Tyler Easton (strength and conditioning coach) and Arishna Maghoo (physiotherapist).