Paceman Nantie Hayward makes a welcome return to the Warriors cricket squad as the Eastern Cape side try to regain their composure after their stunning defeat on Friday when they take on Western Province-Boland (WP-Boland) at Sahara Oval St George’s on Wednesday.
The match starts at 3.45pm.
After a tough time in the Supersport Series, Pieter Strydom’s side will be hoping to make a bigger impact in the Standard Bank Cup limited-overs competition, and they seemed to do everything right when they racked up a massive total of 304 in 45 overs against the Highveld Lions in Potchefstroom.
But then they could only watch in shock as Adam Bacher slammed a career-best 158 not out to lead the home side to a superb, eight-wicket victory with nine balls to spare.
Admittedly, the Warriors were fielding an inexperienced attack with four frontline bowlers out. Hayward and Monde Zondeki were injured, and Makhaya Ntini and Robin Peterson are in India with the national side.
That was badly exposed by the Lions batsmen and Strydom will be hoping Hayward, who had a knee injury, will be able to inject a sense of calm in the Warriors bowling on Wednesday.
They will certainly need to make a positive step forward because lining up against them is a powerful batting unit, led by national players Herschelle Gibbs, skipper Ashwell Prince and JP Duminy, as well as former Zimbabwe international Neil Johnson.
Furthermore, Andrew Puttick, who toured Sri Lanka with the South African side earlier this year, hit successive hundreds last weekend as WP-Boland won their Cup match on Friday, but then lost on Sunday.
So, WP-Boland captain Prince has plenty of batting armour at his disposal and their aim will be to keep the Warriors bowlers under pressure from the start. A strong start could spell another tough night for the home side.
It’s been a frustrating time for Warriors coach Mickey Arthur. After watching his batsmen perform poorly in five Supersport Series matches, he must have been overjoyed to see them in overdrive last Friday.
The only problem was that the bowlers failed to come to the party to extend the Warriors’ record this season to five defeats in six matches.
It’s not a record designed to build confidence and self-belief, but the Warriors will need to show courage in the face of adversity. They can take some positives from their batting last Friday, with lefthander Arno Jacobs continuing his outstanding form.
He will again have a key role to play, but will need good support from his colleagues to have a chance of turning the tables on WP-Boland.
Man for man, the visitors have a clear edge, but if the Warriors can stick together as a team, they could, perhaps, give their home fans reason to rejoice tonight. — Sapa