The Dafabet Warriors will be looking for nothing less than a winning finish to the domestic cricket season when they host the Knights in their penultimate CSA 4-Day series fixture at St George’s Park, starting on Thursday.
Following a less than perfect start to the first-class competition, when they lost three of their five matches, coach Robin Peterson’s side will want to show greater consistency all-round in their final two games.
Following this week’s game, the Warriors will complete their programme with another home game against the Dolphins from April 3-6.
Peterson said there had been a significant degree of disruption in their earlier four-day matches when national call-ups meant they had to do without leading batsmen such as Matthew Breetzke and Tristan Stubbs, as well as the experience of Senuran Muthusamy and Patrick Kruger.
“It almost seemed we were fielding a different side each week and that does make it quite difficult to build a consistent batting unit,” he said.
“We were also very close to securing victory in our opening match against the North West Dragons and that could have had us closer to mid-table, so it can be quite cruel at times.”
In that match the Warriors rattled up 298 and 386/8 declared in their opening fixture against the North West Dragons, and were two wickets away from victory when time ran out.
First innings totals of 163 (against Boland), 94 (against the Lions) and 157 (against the Titans) meant the Warriors were constantly on the back foot and it is an area Peterson said they were confident of resolving.
“The loss of players like Breetzke and Stubbs who you were grooming to help challenge for titles does add a layer of complexity, and we had to bring some younger players into the system,” he said.
“It does take some time to build a batting unit and we want to show faith in these players because they have the ability to make big scores and we are confident they will perform.”
The Warriors coach said the squad had become more settled since competing in the One-Day Cup, though they were still missing top players because of the Indian Premier League starting this week.
While their focus will purely be on delivering a top-quality performance against the Knights, the Warriors will also realise the importance of doing well in their attempt to avoid relegation to division two in domestic cricket.
With promotion-relegation in play between the two divisions, Cricket SA allocates cumulative points across the 4-Day domestic series, One-Day Cup and T20 Challenge/T20 Knockout.
The points are equally weighted across three formats.
This combined total is based on final points table positions — and excludes playoff and title results.
This tally effectively decides which team will be relegated to division one and which team will be promoted from division two.
“In the event of a tie on points overall, the team with the higher position in the 4-Day domestic series will finish higher in the standings,” Cricket SA has said.
The Warriors are also at the bottom of these standings and need a substantial haul of points from their final two games to stand a chance of avoiding relegation.
The latest 4-Day domestic series points standings are (matches in brackets): Lions 83.96 (4), Titans 71.24 (4), Knights 64.94 (5), Boland 62.42 (4), Dolphins 58.16 (4), WP 50.54 (4), NW Dragons 50.42 (4), Warriors 37.64 (5).
The latest accumulated standings across the completed competitions are: Lions 32, Titans 27, Boland 23, Dolphins 14, Knights 10, Dragons 9, WP and Warriors 7.
The four-day fixtures starting on Thursday are (home teams first): Dolphins vs Dragons, Titans vs WP, Boland vs Lions, Warriors vs Knights.
The Herald
Nothing less than a win good enough for Warriors
Last two games against Knights and Dolphins crucial to fortunes of Eastern Province side
Image: MICHAEL SHEEHAN/GALLO IMAGES
The Dafabet Warriors will be looking for nothing less than a winning finish to the domestic cricket season when they host the Knights in their penultimate CSA 4-Day series fixture at St George’s Park, starting on Thursday.
Following a less than perfect start to the first-class competition, when they lost three of their five matches, coach Robin Peterson’s side will want to show greater consistency all-round in their final two games.
Following this week’s game, the Warriors will complete their programme with another home game against the Dolphins from April 3-6.
Peterson said there had been a significant degree of disruption in their earlier four-day matches when national call-ups meant they had to do without leading batsmen such as Matthew Breetzke and Tristan Stubbs, as well as the experience of Senuran Muthusamy and Patrick Kruger.
“It almost seemed we were fielding a different side each week and that does make it quite difficult to build a consistent batting unit,” he said.
“We were also very close to securing victory in our opening match against the North West Dragons and that could have had us closer to mid-table, so it can be quite cruel at times.”
In that match the Warriors rattled up 298 and 386/8 declared in their opening fixture against the North West Dragons, and were two wickets away from victory when time ran out.
First innings totals of 163 (against Boland), 94 (against the Lions) and 157 (against the Titans) meant the Warriors were constantly on the back foot and it is an area Peterson said they were confident of resolving.
“The loss of players like Breetzke and Stubbs who you were grooming to help challenge for titles does add a layer of complexity, and we had to bring some younger players into the system,” he said.
“It does take some time to build a batting unit and we want to show faith in these players because they have the ability to make big scores and we are confident they will perform.”
The Warriors coach said the squad had become more settled since competing in the One-Day Cup, though they were still missing top players because of the Indian Premier League starting this week.
While their focus will purely be on delivering a top-quality performance against the Knights, the Warriors will also realise the importance of doing well in their attempt to avoid relegation to division two in domestic cricket.
With promotion-relegation in play between the two divisions, Cricket SA allocates cumulative points across the 4-Day domestic series, One-Day Cup and T20 Challenge/T20 Knockout.
The points are equally weighted across three formats.
This combined total is based on final points table positions — and excludes playoff and title results.
This tally effectively decides which team will be relegated to division one and which team will be promoted from division two.
“In the event of a tie on points overall, the team with the higher position in the 4-Day domestic series will finish higher in the standings,” Cricket SA has said.
The Warriors are also at the bottom of these standings and need a substantial haul of points from their final two games to stand a chance of avoiding relegation.
The latest 4-Day domestic series points standings are (matches in brackets): Lions 83.96 (4), Titans 71.24 (4), Knights 64.94 (5), Boland 62.42 (4), Dolphins 58.16 (4), WP 50.54 (4), NW Dragons 50.42 (4), Warriors 37.64 (5).
The latest accumulated standings across the completed competitions are: Lions 32, Titans 27, Boland 23, Dolphins 14, Knights 10, Dragons 9, WP and Warriors 7.
The four-day fixtures starting on Thursday are (home teams first): Dolphins vs Dragons, Titans vs WP, Boland vs Lions, Warriors vs Knights.
The Herald
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Latest Videos
Most Read
Sport
Rugby
Soccer
Soccer
Rugby