John Goliath

THE imminent return of Richard Levi to the top of the Cape Cobras’ batting order is not going to restrain Stiaan van Zyl from playing his shots when the Cape side take on the Impi at Boland Park in Paarl tonight.

While Levi had the spectators in New Zealand diving for cover last weekend, Van Zyl has been just as impressive for the Cobras in the opening berth during the Twenty20 Challenge

Van Zyl scored 58 in the tournament opener against the Warriors, and followed that up with a quick-fire 48 from 29 balls in Sunday’s tie with the Knights in Kimberley.

The blonde left-hander and his opening partner, stand-in captain, Andrew Puttick have shared opening stands of 99 and 83 in the first two games. But that partnership is sure to be broken up with Levi expected back in the country before the Cobras’ clash against the Lions in Johannesburg on Friday night.

Van Zyl is aware that Levi will slot straight back into the team. But he is not too bothered and is only looking forward to “having fun” out in the middle.

“Richard has to come straight back into the team because he is playing international cricket and he is in great form,” Van Zyl told the Cape Times yesterday. “But I’m not really thinking about that at the moment. I’m just happy to be playing at the moment and enjoying having fun out there.”

Van Zyl couldn’t make the Cobras’ T20 team last season, and didn’t feature in their triumphant run in the 1-Day Cup as well. The product of Boland Agricultural High School just outside Paarl has been viewed as more of a four-day player, while he has also battled with the likes of Levi, Herschelle Gibbs, Justin Ontong and JP Duminy for a spot in the side.

However, the talented Van Zyl has pulled out his full array of strokes in the T20 Challenge, particularly severe on anything drifting down the legside.

Van Zyl and Puttick will again strive to get the Cobras off to a good start, especially as the new ball will come on nicely in the powerplay overs. That will set up big hitters like Owais Shah and Mark Boucher to launch from a nice platform.

“Me and Andrew Puttick have been playing well up front and we have managed to get some good starts,” Van Zyl said. “A good opening partnership is crucial in T20 cricket, so that we can give the big hitters down the order the freedom to play their shots.

“We are not always going to provide that sort of platform. But we will certainly give it another go on Wednesday,” Van Zyl added.

Van Zyl said that they have prepared well for the tonight’s match against the relatively unknown Impi outfit. While most of the seventh franchise’s players don’t get a lot of game time at their provinces, there are players who Van Zyl has faced during the SuperSport Series, while the four international stars they will come up against are on television most of the time.

“We do our homework ahead of every match and I have seen a lot of their players, especially bowlers like Craig Alexander and Pumelela Matshikwe,” Van Zyl said. “I think it’s definitely going to be a great challenge for us, so we dare not underestimate the Impi.”

There has been lots of talk about the possible condition of the pitch for tonight’s encounter. Van Zyl would obviously like it to be conducive to shot-making, and he is hoping the ball comes on to the bat.

“I’m hoping for a good wicket so that the crowd can see a couple of long balls being hit. They have produced some good one-day pitches in Paarl so far this season, so we are hoping for a few more.”