Photo Credit: Cricket South Africa
Imperial Lions coach Wandile Gwavu is desperate for his players not to become overly relaxed ahead of their final Momentum One-Day Cup regular season clash against the Hollywoodbets Dolphins in Potchefstroom on Friday.
The match at Senwes Park is a dead rubber for the visitors, who have already secured top spot and with it the right to host a semi-final and potential final should they get there.
The hosts hold the other automatic home semi-final berth and look likely to stay there, barring a big Warriors bonus-point win over the World Sports Betting Cape Cobras in their final match on Saturday.
“It’s hugely important to go out there and approach this game with the right attitude,” Gwavu said. “It can give you a lot of momentum going into the play-offs should you do that.
“On the flip side if you out there just going through the motions because you know that you are already through then that can easily slip into your game when you are playing the play-offs and you can become complacent. We certainly do not want that.”
Worryingly for the Lions, though, is that their recent form has been rather iffy. They have lost back-to-back matches and in their latest outing on Tuesday that was washed out against the VKB Knights, they had been in trouble on 188 for seven.
Nonetheless, Gwava believes they are in a good space to tackle the Dolphins.
He added: “We’re excited and looking forward to the game. We know we haven’t been at the same standard as we were when we started the competition, but that has been addressed.
“We know how important it is to end the regular season well. That is what will be aiming to do against a strong Dolphins team.”
Counterpart Imraan Khan, meanwhile, wants his team to continue improving on what has been a stellar campaign thus far.
The KwaZulu-Natal side have won seven out of their nine matches and dominated almost everyone in the 50-over campaign.
“I think if we focus on our execution and what we want to get out of this game then we’ll be in a good position and a good place,” he stated. “We’re not too worried about everyone around us.”
HEAD TO HEAD – Imperial Lions v Hollywoodbets Dolphins
Matches Played: 31
Lions Win: 12
Dolphins Win: 13
No Result: 06
