The final round of an exhilarating and unpredictable CSA Division 1 4 Day series will commence this Monday, 9 February with a couple of teams still in with a shot of making the final.
The North-West Dragons are one of these teams, having played consistent cricket over the past few months, finding themselves in second place on the log on 99.06 points. They are a few points behind the Warriors who are in pole position on 104.36 points.
The Dragons drew their match against the Dolphins at the JB Marks Oval this past week. The match only contained two full days of play due to a wet outfield. Some key positives was a collective bowling effort spearheaded by Alfred Mothoa and debutant Callie Fryer, as well as a superb century from Diego Rosier, his first in Dragons colours.
LOG STANDINGS
The Lions actually have a tremendous chance to make the final with a home game against the Tuskers, who are bottom of the log. The Lions are on 96.38 points in third position. If the Warriors lose or draw to the Dolphins in Durban, then the Lions would make the final.
Western Province in fourth (93.3 points) and the Dolphins in fifth (91.04 points) also are in with a chance of making the final if they secure victories in their matches and other teams fail in their pursuit.
NW Dragons head coach, Craig Alexander, knows that his team only needs to focus on the basics and not think of all the possible permutations.
“Moving to the Boland game, we just want to take each game at a time and make sure we focus on our processes. We have a final staring us in the face. We need to make sure our practices are at a high intensity,” emphasised Alexander.
Boland are sixth on the log on 84.7 points and will come into the match after suffering a tough innings defeat at home against rivals, Western Province. Boland cannot be underestimated with some wily spinners in Shaun von Berg and Imran Manack in the squad as well as the top run-scorer this season, Gavin Kaplan. Kaplan has scored a massive 724 runs thus far.
The Dragons will look to captain Wihan Lubbe, Rubin Hermann and Rosier to supply the bulk of the runs. Meeka-eel Prince has also shown good form with the bat this season.
“We’re looking forward to Paarl. We know the conditions will be a bit drier than usual. We’re happy with the squad we’re taking down, and if we look after our processes, the results will come,” stated Alexander confidently.
The match will start at 10:00 and will be live on the CSA Channel on YouTube.
