Blitzing leaders a priority for AB
DE VILLIERS: WE NEED TO RAISE OUR PERFORMANCES
Ken Borland
The Tshwane Spartans finally notched their second win of the Mzansi Super League in their midweek Gauteng derby against the Jozi Stars, but captain AB de Villiers says they did not play that well and need to raise their performance by another notch if they are to beat leaders Cape Town Blitz at Centurion tonight.
Victory over their neighbours lifted the Spartans into fourth place on eight points, but they have played a game more than the teams surrounding them on the log – the Paarl Rocks, Jozi Stars and Durban Heat.
The Blitz are 12 points ahead of Tshwane but have played one game more, but the NMB Giants in second are a closer target with 14 points from the same number of games. If Tshwane can back up their midweek win and upset their Cape Town rivals, that would bring them right back into play-off contention.
“Wednesday was a really important win because we were in a bit of a slump and had lost a couple of games we should have won. We weren’t at 100% but that win will get the ball rolling. We’ve picked up a few markers that we have to turn to our advantage and I think that it’s going to be vitally important to peak at the right time in this tournament,” De Villiers said at SuperSport Park yesterday.
While De Villiers played an important innings of 39 off 21 balls in the successful run-chase against the Jozi Stars, and is now the third-highest run-scorer in the competition, the T20 legend praised Dean Elgar for his workmanlike, match-winning innings of 79 not out off 52 deliveries that epitomised the disciplined role-playing he is looking for from his team.
“I was very happy with Dean and I’m glad I pushed him up the order because I think he was getting a bit frustrated with floating around the line-up.
“He showed that we must all play our own roles and not try to be someone else. It would be nice to score 200+ and then we can settle on the batting line-up, but we haven’t batted that well yet.
“The last game was not too bad though, the changes went pretty well and now we need the consistency,” De Villiers said.