Team Talk - HD Ackerman

Having completed the first phase of the Supersport Series competition,we find ourselves in a completely different situation to what we were last year.

With three wins out of four and one draw we find ourselves top of Pool B with 52 points,just where we will find ourselves on the overall log depends entirely on the result of the Border-Natal match.

We completed the first phase by beating Easterns by over 150 runs with the young Andrew Puttick scoring his first class hundred and all the bowlers again contributing.

And so the one day competition began again. With only one win from three we knew the results that followed were to be of the utmost importance. We played terrible cricket against Natal in Durban and were beaten easily with only Ashwell holding his own. One from four was just not good enough heading into December and a run-in of six games in a row with only one away from home.

First up at Newlands was border and after having scored 220 we felt we had the beating of the men from East London but a poor performance with the ball and in the field led to us snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. This loss meant we would have the near impossible task of having to win all remaining five games in order to qualify for the semis of this glamour competition.

Easterns arrived at Newlands oozing confidence after having not lost in this competition. Neil johnson was superb with the bat scoring a fantastic hundred and in doing so helping wp put up a very defendable 247. We walked off the ground at 11pm having won but not convincingly as all our bowlers except Alan Dawson, who was superb, struggeld to find the correct line and length that is needed to win at this level.

The first part of a mighty mountain to climb had been completed, and with confidence very high we leave for Gauteng on Friday to take on the Strikers. Three more home fixtures await us upon our return and if a victory is secured in Johannesburg I know the Stands at Newlands will be full, egging the boys in blue on.

Hold thumbs for us and see you on the 22!

your captain HD ACKERMAN