CAPE TOWN – The Durban Heat will be eying their match against the Cape Town Blitz at Newlands on Thursday as a chance to start building some vital momentum as they head into the second half of the Mzansi Super League group phase.
The Heat have gone down in both of their completed games so far in the competition and both games have been decided by very small margins. The first game against the Blitz saw the Cape Town side win by 10 runs and then the Nelson Mandela Bay Giants beat the Heat in the final over.
Heat captain Dane Vilas is hoping that his side can use this stretch of five games in just under two weeks to generate enough momentum to get them into the play-offs.
“It has been disappointing as to how the competition has gone with a game here, a rained off game there, so we are just really excited to build some momentum,” Vilas said.
“Obviously we have to just take it one game at a time starting with this game against the Blitz and then a flight back to Durban for a nice game on Saturday afternoon back at Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium.
“It will be great to pick up some momentum and just build on that.”
It was a narrow defeat to the Blitz in the Heat’s first completed game of the competition that got their campaign started, but Vilas says that the squad members are ready and prepared for the challenge that Quinton de Kock and his side will pose.
“The team is fit and firing and ready to go, which makes team selection difficult because everyone is looking good in the nets.
“That first game against the Blitz was a disappointing one and we made a few mistakes but I think we were unfortunate to lose by just ten runs in the end.
“We are really excited to get one back over them, I think we owe them one and hopefully this will be the catalyst to get our campaign going again,” Vilas added.
The Heat players have had a few days’ worth of downtime following their match in Port Elizabeth last weekend and Vilas feels they are still upbeat about the matches that lie ahead.
“The guys are really positive after a couple days of rest and are really looking forward to this game coming up,” he commented.
Vilas and his side will not be looking too far into the future but know the importance of the next few games in the greater scheme of the competition.