Hendricks: Lions not as good as we needed to be
THERE are no excuses as far as the Central Gauteng Lions are concerned following the late meltdown that saw them drop from first to finish third in the Cricket South Africa 4-Day Series.
They had led the competition throughout … dominating in fact through the first four rounds.
However, they failed to win any of their last three matches, losing two, and now will do a lot of soul-searching come the winter.
“We were good in the competition, but only for 80% of it,” a disappointed Lions captain Dominic Hendricks lamented.
“Unfortunately, if you’re not at your best or competing for the entirety of the competition, you find yourself a little bit short.”
The Northerns Titans timed their run-in perfectly, winning all three of their last matches, including a seven-wicket thumping of the Lions, to win the competition on the last day.
Hendricks knows what it’s like to be on the other side of final-day drama in the competition.
He was on the field in Potchefstroom three years ago when the then-Highveld Lions franchise team took the final wicket with four minutes left of play to claim the fourday title, leaving the Cape Cobras crestfallen.
Hendricks, if he wanted to, could make excuses. The fast-bowling quartet, led by Duanne Olivier that dominated through the first four rounds, was broken up by national call-ups.
They lost their best batter, Ryan Rickelton, to the Proteas as well, and then there was the confused scheduling of the competition that saw the tournament played in three phases over five months, with the final round of Division 1 fixtures shoehorned in between the CSA T20 Challenge and the One-Day Cup that starts on Friday.
“We contract guys to fulfil roles. We knew we’d be without guys at various parts of the season. There were a couple of guys missing in the last competition (CSA T20 Challenge), and the same here,” Hendricks said.
“We had Duanne at the start of the season, I was away and so were others, I don’t think it’s the reason for the lack of success this weekend.
“We plan for those scenarios and when we pick a side, we pick that side to do a job. Unfortunately this weekend, I don’t think our skill-set was good enough.”
Without Olivier, who picked up 29 wickets at 14.93 in five matches, Lutho Sipamla and Sisanda Magala, who also got national call-ups, the Lions’ attack lacked punch.
The draw in Durban against the Dolphins in January was, Hendricks remarked, another key turning point in the season.
“Our decision to take a positive approach has come back to (bite us),” he said of the declaration made there that left the Dolphins to chase 258 in the final innings, which the KwaZulu-Natal side did for the loss of just two wickets.
“If we’d taken a slightly different approach there, it would have been a different outcome coming into the last week of the tournament.
“But we can’t dwell on that decision. If anything, this week, we weren’t as good as we needed to be.”
Only Mitchell van Buuren, who scored hundreds in each innings at Centurion, and Codi Yusuf, who picked up 5/91 in the Titans’ first innings, played to their potential.
Attention now turns to the OneDay Cup, the Lions’ final chance of grabbing some silverware this season.