Year of the Great Dane
Cape Cobras’ offspinner is asking serious questions of the SA selectors
● Cape Cobras off-spinner and captain Dane Piedt will do anything to ensure the franchise gets over the line.
Being the top wicket taker in the FourDay Franchise Series wasn’t good enough to help the franchise win their first red-ball competition in five seasons.
Through their thrilling 84-run win against the Warriors in Potchefstroom with only nine balls remaining, the Highveld Lions pipped the Cobras on Thursday.
It was a bitter pill to swallow as the Cape Cobras topped the series log in every round until that evening.
Piedt, a South African College High School (SACS) Old Boy, is all about the improvement of the franchise
“All I’ve been needing to do is to get the Cape Cobras to be competitive to a point where they deserve to be and that’s competing for all trophies in all formats. That’s what I want and I didn’t really put my mind to perform to get recognised nationally,” Piedt said.
“All I wanted to do was to win games for the team because this franchise deserves to be at the top of the domestic cricket tree. Fortunately enough, we’ve got a young side and we’re still hurting because of the result but that’s how the cookie has crumbled.”
The 28-year-old Piedt’s leadership of the team in the past two seasons has seen them recover from the trauma of the Paul Adams era. The side was close to revolt when a dispute was lodged with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.
Piedt remained with the franchise and after two third-place finishes in the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons, their start was so strong in this campaign that they won their first four games without breaking much of a sweat.
It was the Lions who broke their stride in a round-five game in Paarl and in the second set of five games they could only win two, even though they only lost to the Warriors.
Piedt though said the season was a success despite running out of steam when it counted.
The Cobras have five batsmen in the top 15 Franchise Series run makers and four bowlers in the corresponding top wickettaking group.
“I’ve really grown in the position and it’s my second full season as captain. I’m really happy with where I’m at now and the physio has kept me on the field so that’s also been a very good thing for me,” Piedt said.
“I can’t be any prouder of the players who have contributed in this competition and I’m very happy. This franchise means a lot to me so I’ll do everything in my power to make sure it gets to where it deserves to be.”
Such is the extent of Piedt’s excellence, he’s 20 clear of teammate Dane Paterson while taking 30 more wickets than last season.
Having last played Test cricket in August 2016 against New Zealand, a looming tour of India later this year may catapult him into the reckoning.
After all, SA cricket thinking is far more malleable to spin now but Piedt, like most of his peers, isn’t looking too far ahead of himself.
“The main thing for me this season was to sharpen up my consistency because I’m an attacking spinner. However, I avoid thinking too much ahead of myself and I have to take things on a day-by-day basis. With the momentum comes form and you have to have your mind wrapped around that. I don’t think about what can happen, but I deal with what I can do on a specific day,” Piedt said.