Energy and eagerness to reach the final of the CSA Knockout T20 challenge are to the fore in the Eastern Cape Iinyathi camp ahead of their qualifier against the Knights, batter Jason Niemand said.
The crucial match will be played at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Tuesday.
Ideally, they did not want the hard route to the final and wanted to get things done and host the final at Buffalo Park on Sunday (1pm), Niemand said.
For that to happen, the equation is simple: they have to beat the Knights, who are yet to lose a home game.
The winner of the Knights and Iinyathi game will go directly to the final, while the loser will have to play the winner of the eliminator between the Garden Route Badgers and Mpumalanga Rhinos.
“Any time you get to play a side like the Knights, who are experienced and are good at home, it is always good.
“We want to test ourselves against the best teams in our division because we rate ourselves as the best team.
“That gives us that motivation to do well. We are hoping the weather will be nice because the last game there was rained out over the weekend,” Niemand said.
When the two teams met in early November, the Iinyathi reigned supreme with a four-wicket victory.
That win came in conditions that suited the bowlers in East London.
It will be the opposite in Bloem.
The Mangaung pitch is a batter’s paradise.
It is a hard and even surface with little to no grass that provides consistent bounce, making it easy for batsmen to score runs.
“Traditionally the wicket in Bloem is good for batting. We will assess it when we arrive there.
“All round, we are looking to put our best foot forward, not just with the bat but with the ball and in the field,” Niemand, who is the leading run scorer for Iinyathi, said.
“We want to put on a performance, as we have been doing over the past few weeks.”
The Knights have ex-Proteas players like Rilee Rossouw, Sisanda Magala and Dane Piedt in their arsenal.
Piedt played a good hand for the Knights in East London in November.
He picked up three wickets for 15 runs and made the game tighter than it was supposed to be, as the Knights had only made 110.
Though he has only played three games, Rossouw is the leading run scorer in the competition.
“I think we have enough skillsets to match them as long as we believe in our systems and processes,” Niemand said.
Daily Dispatch
