Johannesburg – VKB Knights coach Nicky Boje says his charges are relishing the prospect of taking on the Warriors in Bloemfontein in round eight of the Sunfoil Series, as the tournament reaches crunch time.
The Knights and Warriors are placed fourth and fifth respectively on the table, but positions matter little as they try and hunt down the top-of-the-table Dolphins – who have played a game more and will be overtaken by either side should they manage victory at the Mangaung Oval.
But another side also threatens their ambition of going top. The Titans, defending champions, will also surge to the top of the standings with a victory against the Cape Cobras this weekend in Centurion. It all makes for an exciting finish and Boje concedes it has got his players excited.
“Everyone’s looking forward to it,” he said. “Three massive games ahead, but we’re ready to play and hopefully do well.” Boje did not want to predict what needs to be done in the remaining rounds, but wants his charges firmly focussed on the first job at hand, which is against the men from the Eastern Cape.
“I think we’ll take it game-by-game,” he added. “The important one is starting on Thursday against the Warriors. They beat us in the first round and we’ll have to play well to beat them here.
“From there we’ll take it to the next one and then the next one. So we’ll focus on the first game starting on Thursday and hopefully do all the processes right.”
Boje is also intruiged at the tightness of the 2016/17 competition, which sees just under 20 points separating the top five.
“It’s quite interesting to see how the season has progressed,” he stated. “There’s usually one team that has won four games by this stage, but not this season, which does make for a close finish.”
The Knights are bolstered by the return of Duanne Olivier after he missed the last round of games to make his Proteas Test debut, while Rilee Rossouw is also available. But David Miller is away with the national limited-overs team.
Warriors coach Malibongwe Maketa is also thrilled to see his side in the mix in a competition in which they have recently struggled in.
“We haven’t done well in the past and I think to still be in the running with three games to go, we’re really happy with that,” he said. “But there’s still a lot of cricket to be played and we need to win, that’s going to be the challenge for us now.
“What’s good is that so many other teams are in a similar position, so we can expect to see some positive cricket. Every session and every ball is critical at this stage of the season.”
Maketa also thinks that two wins from the remaining three games may be enough for any team to win the title.
“With three games to go now, we need to get two wins at least if not three, to try and stake a claim for the trophy. So we’re refreshed and ready to go,” concluded Maketa, who has no fresh injuries to contend with.
Knights team:
Kula Akhona, Mbulelo Budaza, Theunis de Bruyn, Marchant de Lange, Michael Erlank, Patrick Kruger, Luthando Mnyanda, Duanne Olivier, Keegan Petersen, Rilee Rossouw, Rudi Second, Johan van Dyk.
Warriors team:
Colin Ackermann, Andrew Birch, Gihahn Cloete, Gionne Koopman, Simon Harmer, Sisanda Magala, Eddie Moore, Lesiba Ngoepe, Anrich Nortje, Tladi Bokako, Yaseen Vallie, Basheer Walters, Somila Seyibokwe.