Winning their eighth match on the bounce may have been quite special, but there are still some tough assignments on the horizon in this season's CSA T20 Challenge, Dafabet Warriors captain Matthew Breetzke said.
The Gqeberha side are yet to suffer defeat in this year’s tournament and their latest victory, a nine-wicket triumph over WSB Western Province at Boland Park, saw them double the wins they achieved in the last two domestic T20 tournaments combined, albeit those editions consisted of just seven round-robin matches each.
The Warriors have been consistent in their approach to this year’s edition, showing an ability to quickly and accurately assess conditions before ensuring they use their strengths to exploit conditions in their favour during battle.
Batting first, the WP side put together a decent score of 142 for seven, thanks to 30 by all-rounder George Linde, while Eddie Moore and Wayne Parnell chipped in with 23 and 22 not out, respectively.
Disciplined bowling coupled with the slow nature of the pitch made it difficult for WP to get the ball to the boundary regularly.
However, it was a different tale entirely for the men in green and black.
First, Breetzke knuckled down alongside fellow opener Jiveshan Pillay (31) as the right-hand-left-hand pairing notched up an 80-run partnership for the first wicket.
Then the tactical nous of head coach Robin Peterson shone through once again as he promoted Beyers Swanepoel to number three, the decision paying handsome dividends.
The left-hander struck six sixes to record a rapid 47 from 20 balls, remaining unbeaten as he shared 65 runs with Breetzke for the second wicket.
Breetzke may have contributed only 16 to the partnership, but his unbeaten 62 from 48 balls, striking five boundaries and two sixes, played a huge role in seeing his side over the line and extending their lead to 14 points at the summit of the standings with 35 points.
“The toughest part of winning so many games in a row is [keeping that momentum] going, but at the end of the day, we are professional cricketers, we have a job to do and that will be my message to them,” Breetzke said when asked how he would keep his players motivated for the remainder of the competition.
He said he knew it would be a pitch where the batsmen would have to work hard for their runs given the slow nature of the playing surface.
Finding the boundary was particularly difficult as shown in the sides’ respective boundary counts.
The Warriors found the boundary on 16 occasions (8x4, 8x6) compared with the six boundaries and three sixes hit by WP.
“It was pretty decent [playing] conditions.
“It’s always quite slow in Paarl so your options change and your strike rate goes from 160 to 120, but still happy to get over the line,” Breetzke said.
Their convincing win was also the first time the Warriors had won a day T20 match at the Paarl venue in four previous attempts.
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