Upbeat WP raring to go

IT is amazing what a couple of wins can do for team morale. Western Province are shining examples of this.

Two months ago, anyone who was anyone showered a heap of criticism on Western Province cricket after a disastrous Cricket SA T20 Challenge.

Independent reviews and a complete shake-up of structures were called for in an attempt to get to the bottom of how a legacy-filled union such as the Newlands-based Province had fallen so badly from grace.

However, there were a few sober individuals – most notably the coaching staff, headed by the experienced Salieg Nackerdien and supported by Rory Kleinveldt – that knew Province were missing a host of core players, such as batters Jonathan Bird and David Bedingham, to injury, while the leader of the attack, Beuran Hendricks, also broke down before he had delivered a ball in Potchefstroom.

This forced WP to field a greentinged side with current SA U19 all-rounder Abdullah Bayoumy and 20-year-olds Daniel Smith and Ethan Cunningham all having to take on major responsibilities in the line-up.

To Nackerdien and Kleinveldt’s credit, they never made any excuses, and instead took it on the chin as lessons learnt.

They were fully aware that Province would be strengthened with the return of the new recruit Eddie Moore and Yaseen Vallie, along with the composition of an experienced bowling attack being pieced together again for the four-day competition.

A combination of these factors has seen WP steamroll their opposition in their last two first-class fixtures, by over an innings in both matches at Newlands, which leaves them just behind Warriors on the log.

They are now a team filled with confidence, knowing they have in-form batters and a bowling unit that will push any team on to the back foot.

This is a crucial factor going into the Cricket SA 1-Day competition which starts at Newlands today.

Province may be without their skipper, Kyle Verreynne, who has left with the Proteas squad to Australia, but they are able to recall Bird, who has recovered from injury. Equally, George Linde is looking forward to leading a team that is simply enjoying their cricket again.

“The preparation is going well. We still have the same team, bar Kyle Verryenne, but at least we have a nice group of guys in the squad,” Linde said.

“Two good wins, incredible wins actually, so we’re hoping to take that momentum into the 1-Day Cup.” WP 13-MAN SQUAD

George Linde (captain), Aviwe Mgijima, Beuran Hendricks, Daniel Smith (wk), Eddie Moore, Gavin Kaplan, Jonathan Bird, Junaid Dawood, Mihlali Mpongwana, Nandre Burger, Tony de Zorzi, Tshepo Moreki, Yaseen Vallie