Warriors want Cobras scalp

THE WARRIORS are hoping to spoil the Cape Cobras’ march towards the 4-Day Domestic Series title.

The Eastern Cape side are fresh off a brilliant victory over the Titans and also ran the Cobras close in Port Elizabeth in the last game of 2018.

“We’ve had the same chat with the players as we had before the last game against them before the end of the year,” Warriors coach Rivash Gobind said.

“We saw what happened there, the guys ran them pretty close even though we didn’t play very well.

“We are pretty confident that if we rock up in Cape Town and execute our skills over the four days we should be able to get into a position to force a result,” he added.

In fact, the Warriors are still harbouring ambitions of hauling in the Cobras, who enjoy a 20-point lead at the top of the table.

The Cobras, meanwhile, are sweating on the fitness of the in-form opening batsman Janneman Malan.

The prolific right-hander injured his hand in the last match against the Knights in Bloemfontein and could face a possible three-week spell on the sidelines.

The league-leaders have already lost senior batsman Zubayr Hamza who debuted for the Proteas last week.

Cobras coach Ashwell Prince is therefore taking nothing for granted, and knows his team still face some stern tests before they can be crowned 4-Day champions.

“A win is 16 points, a loss is 10 points, so the nineteen and a half (19.5) point lead we have can be turned around pretty quickly if things don’t go the right way,” Prine said.

“It’s one game at a time. “We have to approach every game the same way, starting from nought for nought and build our way into the game, whether it’s batting or bowling, and in time wrestle our way into a position of advantage in a game,” he concluded.

Prince is likely to partner Pieter Malan with Western Province semipro veteran Matthew Kleinveldt at the top of the order, with last week’s centurion David Bedingham set to keep his place in the middleorder in Hamza’s absence.