Gwavu wary of Knights bowling attack

While Nono Pongolo, the hero of their previous game, is definitely out injured, there is a small chance that Malusi Siboto will be fit and Proteas paceman Beuran Hendricks will be back as the Lions take on the Knights in a Momentum One-Day Cup game at the Wanderers today.

Lions coach Wandile Gwavu also revealed yesterday that Dominic Hendricks would replace Reeza Hendricks, recalled to the national squad, at the top of the order, while he is also hoping leftarm spinner Bjorn Fortuin is released by the Proteas and will be available for his franchise.

But it is the Knights’ bowling power that Gwavu is most wary of, so he is grateful that the Lions are going into the game with a well-knit batting unit that is full of confidence and runs. “The

Knights have a relatively young batting line-up, they don’t have as much experience and that’s what can catch up with you in daynight cricket.

“But they have arguably the most exciting bowling line-up in the country, youngsters who are all bowling at 140-plus so we are preparing to face that barrage, but the good news is we don’t just have one guy making all the runs.

“Our eggs are not all in the one basket with Ryan Rickelton; Nicky van den Bergh and Kagiso Rapulana are playing decently, Dom Hendricks has been very consistent, Delano Potgieter has been the find of the competition and Wihan Lubbe is most exciting too.

“So we are getting runs from different batsmen and we are trying to have one guy go big in every match,” Gwavu said at the Wanderers yesterday.

Ryan Rickelton has been the standout performer though, the 23-year-old certainly putting his peg in the ground with 324 runs in four innings scored at a run-aball.

And that’s been while recovering from an injured hand that has prevented him keeping wicket. “I’ve been feeling good and hitting the ball nicely, getting into good positions, it’s just a pity my last two innings ended in soft run outs. But I’m playing with a bit more confidence, I played a few amateur matches and even club games for UJ just to get runs under my belt, and luckily things have clicked. Before this I was having a bit of a slow season so I wanted to make sure I cash in,” Rickelton said.

“The Wanderers pitch is something of an unknown factor and it could be tough trying to get spinners like Aaron Phangiso and Knights off-spinner Tshepo Ntuli off the square,” he added.