Alviro back in Lions contention
Bizhub Highveld Lions coach Geoffrey Toyana wants his team to maintain the high standards they have set themselves in recent weeks when they come up against the VKB Knights in a Sunfoil Series clash at Bidvest Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg starting on Thursday.
The Johannesburg-based host followed up their Momentum One-Day Cup triumph at the end of last month by thumping the Cape Cobras on their return to four-day action last week.
That enabled them to stay in touch with the Unlimited Titans at the top of the table and the coach is keen for them to maintain their current form.
“We’ve played some good cricket over the last couple of weeks and we need to now consolidate that,” he said. “It’s an important game, at home against a team that’s also in the title race. We’re not looking too far ahead, we want to take it one game at a time. I feel the competition will only start to take shape around game eight or so. So most of the teams are still in it and we’ll have to make sure we continue building on the work we did last week.”
Alviro Petersen is fit again and could return for the Lions.
Knights coach Nicky Boje is placing huge emphasis on the first innings in the game and has been trying to drive home the importance of that passage of the game to his players.
This especially after their first-innings failings against the Titans last week when they conceded 277 and were themselves bowled out for 122.
“Four-day cricket is all about the first innings and I think we played our first innings extremely poorly, so that puts you behind the whole time,” Boje said. “And from there we struggled to get back into the game. This week it’s another tough one and we’ll have to play good cricket in that first innings to have a chance of competing. That is the key if we want to have any chance of going for a win and staying in the hunt for the title.”
Tumelo Bodibe is fit again after injury for the third-placed Knights and is expected to replace Letlotlo Sesele in the team.
(File Photo: Gallo Images)
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre
That enabled them to stay in touch with the Unlimited Titans at the top of the table and the coach is keen for them to maintain their current form.
“We’ve played some good cricket over the last couple of weeks and we need to now consolidate that,” he said. “It’s an important game, at home against a team that’s also in the title race. We’re not looking too far ahead, we want to take it one game at a time. I feel the competition will only start to take shape around game eight or so. So most of the teams are still in it and we’ll have to make sure we continue building on the work we did last week.”
Alviro Petersen is fit again and could return for the Lions.
Knights coach Nicky Boje is placing huge emphasis on the first innings in the game and has been trying to drive home the importance of that passage of the game to his players.
This especially after their first-innings failings against the Titans last week when they conceded 277 and were themselves bowled out for 122.
“Four-day cricket is all about the first innings and I think we played our first innings extremely poorly, so that puts you behind the whole time,” Boje said. “And from there we struggled to get back into the game. This week it’s another tough one and we’ll have to play good cricket in that first innings to have a chance of competing. That is the key if we want to have any chance of going for a win and staying in the hunt for the title.”
Tumelo Bodibe is fit again after injury for the third-placed Knights and is expected to replace Letlotlo Sesele in the team.
(File Photo: Gallo Images)
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre