The West Indian batter says the SA20 is one of the best tournaments around, packed with high-quality players.
Seasoned West Indian cricket Nicholas Pooran says those players who’ll be heading to the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka next month should tread carefully over the remainder of the SA20 competition.
Pooran was on Tuesday quizzed about his thoughts on the SA20 being the perfect tune-up for the World Cup.
“It’s a good question,” said the big-hitting West Indian.
“Playing cricket is wonderful going into a World Cup, but the games come thick and fast in the SA20 … you’re playing every other day. The downside for me is the mental part … playing too much cricket and players needing to recover … that’s the worry for me.
“Guys could be mentally tired [by the time they get to the World Cup], or they could get injured. You can hurt yourself in the field diving for a ball, you could pull a hamstring bowling or you could break a rib batting.
“So, it might be good, it might be bad … my advice to the guys going to the World Cup is just be careful.
“The SA20 is a high standard tournament, and everybody wants to win, and guys are putting their bodies on the line.”
MI Cape Town win first game
Pooran was speaking after helping his SA20 side, MI Cape Town, record their first win of this season’s competition, a close four-wicket victory over Joburg Super Kings on the DLS method at Newlands on Tuesday night. The West Indian hit a quick-fire 33 off 15 balls.
“It’s a relief to get some points on the board,” said Pooran. “I’m also happy to have contributed … to be honest it’s one of the reasons why we [MI Cape Town] are in this position [one win from six games and bottom of the points table]. Individual players haven’t taken responsibility and haven’t applied enough batsmanship, that’s the truth.
“But the tournament isn’t over yet … it’s just started for us. Hopefully we can take some of the momentum now on the road and into our next games.”
MI Cape Town are next in action on Saturday in Joburg, against the Super Kings.
Pooran said he was enjoying his time in Cape Town. “It’s every cricketer’s dream … to play in front of Table Mountain. The SA20 is a wonderful competition. The atmosphere all over South Africa is great, the fans are also so passionate … and the standard of cricket is high, it’s definitely one of the best competitions around.”
Despite their loss the Super Kings are still well positioned in second place on the log.
“Shortened games become a lottery,” said JSK assistant coach Eric Simons about the defeat on Tuesday.
“We’ve had a good start to the tournament, but the real business is still to come. There’s a good spirit among the guys and everyone understands what we want to do.”
