Zaahier Adams
Warriors coach Robin Peterson is not too perturbed with his team’s form heading into tomorrow’s Cricket SA T20 Challenge semi-final against the Dolphins.
The Warriors started the competition on a red-hot eight-match winning streak before securing qualification for the play-offs with five league matches still remaining.
Since then the Gqeberha-based side have lost four out of five matches, which has allowed both the Lions (first) and Dolphins (second) to push the Warriors into third place. The Titans secured the fourth and final play-off spot after their win over Western Province.
From the outside it undoubtedly looks like the wheels have come off in dramatic circumstances at St George’s Park, but Peterson is not fazed.
“Nothing has changed,” Peterson told Independent Newspapers, matter of factly.
“We have a very young and inexperienced squad. Our captain Matty Breetzke is our most experienced player and he is only 25.
“So, we played some awesome cricket to win eight games on the bounce, but with this being a very young side, the focus shifted to now we need to win two games, and that’s the semi and the final.
“It’s still very much a learning curve with these young players. With a more experienced squad we have managed the situation better, but I am not worried.
“The vibes are good. And now that we are here, they know exactly what needs to be done.”
The setback, of course, is that the Warriors missed out on the opportunity to host a semi-final and will instead have to travel to Durban for their rematch against the Dolphins, who beat the Warriors by seven wickets in the final league encounter on Sunday.
But with the Warriors having trounced the Dolphins with a bonus point already at Kingsmead this season, Peterson is quietly confident of getting the job done in the play-offs.
“Playing at Kingsmead is not foreign to our boys. Matty also plays his SA20 cricket there for DSG (Durban’s Super Giants), so it’s not a major thing.
“It’s not like we would be playing in front of 10 000 people at St George’s. Unfortunately, it’s just not like that in domestic cricket anymore.
“We have beaten them there (at Kingsmead). They beat us at home. It’s now about pitching up on the day and assessing the conditions and then executing the basics.”
The Warriors will no doubt be leaning heavily on their skipper Breetzke for the bulk of the run scoring at Kingsmead.
The stylish right-hander finished the league stages as the second-highest run scorer in the competition with 429 runs at an average of 37.75 and strike rate of 133.64.
It has certainly enhanced Breetzke’s reputation as one of the leading T20 batters in the country after a sparkling Betway SA20 season 2 with the Super Giants, where he also amassed 447 runs.
A couple of good performances under pressure in the play-offs would be a timely reminder to Proteas white-ball coach Rob Walter that Breetzke wants to be part of the discussion when the 15-man squad is named for the ICC T20 World Cup later this year in the US and Caribbean.
And at the same time, it would be a major boost to the Warriors’ chances of winning some silverware.