Photo Credit: Cricket South Africa/Sydney Seshibed
There will be a total of three provincial derbies in the latest round of the Cricket South Africa (CSA) Women’s Provincial One-Day and T20 Cup across Division One and Division Two as the action resumes between 22 – 23 October following week’s break.
A Western Cape rivalry will be on show when the Six Gun Grill Western Province hosts the newly promoted Six Gun Grill Garden Route Badgers at the Six Gun Grill Newlands Stadium. Meanwhile, the DP World Lions will make the short trip across the Juskei River to take on Gauteng rivals, the Fidelity Titans, at the Mandela Oval in Hammanskraal.
In Division Two, Border will look to get one over their noisy neighbours Kei in a 50-over and T20 battle at the Khaya Majola Oval in Mthatha.
The other clashes in round four of the 2022 / 23 season will see the Hollywoodbets Dolphins take on the North West Dragons at the Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium in a reverse matchup from the opening weekend that saw the Dolphins earn a One-Day victory before the Dragons fought back in the shorter format.
Boland will look to take full control of Group A in the second division when they welcome Eastern Province to Boland Park in Paarl after winning three of four of their matches in both formats this season.
The matches will be streamed live (with scorecards) on the Pitch Vision website and app from 10h00 SAST, except for the matches in Durban between the Dolphins and Dragons, which kick off at 09h30.
Ahead of the derby in Cape Town, Western Province captain, Leah Jones shared her thoughts on the match and what victory will mean to her side.
“It will be an interesting weekend of games, an interesting battle. A good battle actually, seeing that they have a strong looking team,” she said.
“Both teams have a good fighting spirit and it will be a really good game and a good derby. We are looking forward to welcoming our neighbours from George and hoping to take the win on both days, but an interesting battle lies ahead.
“What we will need to do to win is just see that we are focused in the nets (in preparation) as individuals and then just bring it together once again on the field. We have done that for the past four games that we’ve played and it has worked.
“It (winning it) will mean a lot to us. It being a Western Cape derby, it will be a good one to have bragging rights with. It is still the beginning of the season and we will get them again so hopefully having the one up on them can happen but cricket is a funny game, anything can happen,” Jones added.
Jones’ opposite number, Garden Route Badgers skipper, Haroline Rhodes says her side are excited about the challenge of facing the unbeaten and current One-Day Cup log leaders, Western Province.
“Firstly, everyone is really excited for the opportunity to play cricket. Every game is a big game, but to also play the current in-form team, in itself, is a challenge that we are looking forward to,” she said.
“Ultimately, to win, it will come down to our own performance. We are fully aware that we are going to have to play at the top of our game; a real team effort, score big, take wickets and field exceptionally.
“Winning the derby will show that we have grown and prove that we are doing something right as a team. It will most definitely be about bragging rights and that we as Six Gun Grill Garden Route Badgers can compete and win at this level,” the defiant Rhodes continued.
From the Mother City to Hammanskraal, according to Lions captain, Yolani Fourie, the T20 Cup table-topping side will be eager to pick up where they left off in their last contest against the Badgers in Week 3 when they go head to head with the Titans this weekend.
“The team is in a good space at the moment,” Fourie commented.
“We came from a good win against SWD (Badgers) as well. We are playing some decent cricket at the moment and I don’t think there is anything specific we need to do in order to get the win this weekend but more of sticking to our game plan, our basics, doing the basics right and giving it our all.
“It is always a big match playing against the Titans and it’s always tough opposition to play against, so it will definitely boost the team and the players and if we can win this weekend, it will definitely put us in high spirits as well, knowing we are on the right track with our game plan and our skills,” she added.
Titans captain and batter, Robyn Searle says her team are focusing on themselves ahead of the Lions clash with the aim of going on a winning run after grabbing just one just win in four matches thus far.
“We are really looking forward to it,” Searle said.
“Every game that we encounter this season is important and we are always going to do our best no matter who we are playing against. It’s not necessarily about the opposition but it’s more about showing up on the day, playing to our potential and trying to tick our own boxes that we hope to achieve.
“They are a really good team, with a strong bowling unit and our batters are going to have to show some grit. We are going to have to bat as long and as deep as we can, and get a good total up, and hopefully we can defend it. I am really looking forward to it.
“We go out wanting to win and so far this season, we have had one loss and one win in the One-Dayers, so we hoping to shift that balance more into winning so we can get a bit of momentum going for the rest of our games to come,” she added.
Week 4 – Fixtures:
CSA Women’s Provincial One-Day Cup (All matches start at 10h00 SAST – except for Dolphins vs Dragon – 09h30 SAST)
Latest log table, match and statistics may be downloaded here
Saturday, 22 October –
Division One –
Six Gun Grill Western Province vs Six Gun Grill Garden Route Badgers (Six Gun Grill Newlands, Cape Town)
Hollywoodbets Dolphins vs North West Dragons (Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium, Durban)
Fidelity Titans vs DP World Lions (Mandela Oval, Hammanskraal)
Division Two –
Boland vs Eastern Province (Boland Park. Paarl)
Kei vs Border (Khaya Majola Oval, Mthatha)
CSA Women’s Provincial T20 Cup (All matches start at 10h00 SAST – except for Dolphins vs Dragon – 09h30 SAST)
Latest log table, scores and statistics may be downloaded here.
Sunday, 23 October –
Division One –
Six Gun Grill Western Province vs Six Gun Grill Garden Route Badgers (Six Gun Grill Newlands, Cape Town)
Hollywoodbets Dolphins vs North West Dragons (Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium, Durban)
Fidelity Titans vs DP World Lions (Mandela Oval, Hammanskraal)
Division Two –
Boland vs Eastern Province (Boland Park. Paarl)
Kei vs Border (Khaya Majola Oval, Mthatha)
