The North West Dragons face the high-flying Warriors, who are on top of the CSA 4 Day Challenge table, in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) from 24-27 November with a chance to pick up a crucial first win in the competition.
It will definitely not be easy for the Dragons as they come up against a side high on confidence. The Warriors top players has been Jordan Hermann who has scored 320 runs at an average of 106. Diego Rosier has also been in good touch for the Warriors.
The Dragons batsmen will have to lookout for Mthiwekhaya Nabe’s pace, but will feel that they’ve dodged a bullet with the in form Glenton Stuurman missing the match with an injury.
The Dragons make two changes with Duan Jansen coming in for Eldred Hawken and Khanya Cotani replacing Shaylen Pillay who is sick.
The Dragons will look to Potgieter, Wesley Marshall and Lesego Senokwane to once again come good with the bat. Much is also expected of the experienced Heino Kuhn and Nicky van den Bergh to get amongst the runs.
The match will start at 10:00 and is available on live stream on YouTube.
Source: ESPNCricinfo
Despite going down by 123 runs against the Lions at the J.B. Marks Oval in Potchefstroom this past weekend, the Dragons are still upbeat about their chances of picking up wins in the CSA 4-day competition this season.
The Dragons almost managed to save the game from a losing position, but their batsmen just could not hold on, on the final day as they were dismissed for 273, with Delano Potgieter playing a great knock of 81 (111).
NW Dragons head coach, Craig Alexander, was happy with his team’s fight and effort despite going ending up on the losing end against the Lions. He feels that the game was lost in one bad session for his side.
“We were in control for majority of the game. We had one disappointing session on day 2 (session 3) that hit us hard. We lost 8 wickets for 46 runs in about 30 overs and that was the session that lost us the game. One session can put you on the back foot,” he stated.
Alexander also mentioned that the team took many positives from the Lions defeat that they can build on for the match against the Warriors.
“We put up a good fight. It is definitely something we worked on during the pre-season. There are a lot of good signs and positives we can take out of the game. Senuran Muthusamy bowled well and Delano Potgieter and Wesley Marshall also batted well. Four-day cricket is a tough competition but we are on the right track where we want to be this season. All I can ask for is fight in a game like that.” – NW Dragons head coach, Craig Alexander
