— Cape Town Western Province’s fortunes in the CSA Division 1 T20 Challenge will need to be revitalized via introspection.
Thursday’s nine-wicket loss to the Knights marked Province’s second consecutive dreadful performance in their first two matches.
The team of Salieg Nackerdien is lacking a number of experienced batters due to the absence of Jonathan Bird, David Bedingham, and Zubayya Hamza. Aviwe Mgijima was also ruled out on the eve of the Potchefstroom event.
This has compelled WP to field three rookies, Daniel Smith, 20, Abdallah Bayoumy, 18, and Ethan Cunnigham, 19, in addition to Mihlali Mpongwana, 22.
To date, only Smith has contributed with the bat, adding 31 runs to his prior total of 25. However, Smith is far more suited for the lengthier formats of the game, as his strike rate of 100 indicates.
At the senior provincial level, a far faster pace is required, which Cunnigham and Bayoumy have not yet demonstrated. Both are highly excellent young cricketers, but neither has yet demonstrated their full potential.
This is partially owing to the fact that Province’s senior hitters have not taken responsibility for relieving the burden.
Province’s captain Tony de Zorzi (30 runs in two games) has struggled to capitalize on promising starts, while Kyle Verreynne (35 runs in two games) and George Linde (44 runs in two games) have not yet produced in tandem.
Gavin Kaplan, who is more experienced, may be added to the starting eleven, but more importantly, the batting order must be corrected.
Mpongwana is a promising all-round cricketer, but he cannot possibly bat at No. 5. The lanky graduate of the University of Western Cape presently averages 2.50 in T20 domestic cricket and would serve the squad much better batting lower down the order, as he did with some success in the 1-Day Cup last season.
However, Province has little time to get their house in order, since the mighty Titans team will be waiting for them on Friday.
The Knights will feel much better now that their season has begun, as their opening encounter versus the Warriors was postponed due to inclement weather.
Pace spearhead Gerald Coetzee was outstanding with the ball, recording career-best numbers of 4-22, while captain Aubrey Swanepoel contributed 3-24. This helped reduce Province’s score to 116.
Gihahn Cloete ensured there would be no snags in the run chase with a boundary-laden 68 not out off 42 balls, while Raynard van Tonder also made an unbeaten 33.