WESTERN PROVINCE LOOK FORWARD TO HOME GAMES

by Colin Bryden

JAG Western Province are looking forward to a run of home games as they seek a strong finish to their campaign in Cricket South Africa’s amateur competitions. Five of the team’s remaining six fixtures are at home.

The side have performed solidly in the CSA three-day competition and are lying sixth on the log in the 14-team competition. They have won three, lost two and drawn two matches.

The one-day results have been less pleasing, with three losses and four defeats.

JAG Western Province’s batting has generally been good, with Alistair Gray and Yaseen Vallie scoring 501 and 468 runs respectively with averages above 50.

Romano Ramoo has also had a good season, while Moeneeb Abbas has played some useful innings.

The most successful bowlers have been members of the Cobras squad who have had short spells in the amateur side, with Vernon Philander and Monde Zondeki both bowling themselves back into form and earning promotion back to the professional ranks.

Of those who have played regularly for the amateur side, leg-spinner Abdul-Aziz Temoor has had a productive season, taking 23 wickets at 29.86.

Coach Salieg Nackerdien said there was a shortage of bowlers of express pace in the province, although there were some good medium-pacers in the system.

“We’ve got six more games coming up in a short period of time so the next few weeks will pose a big question for our bowlers,” he said.

Nackerdien said: “We are improving in three-day cricket although there have been disappointments here and there.” Chief among the disappointments was an uncharacteristic first innings batting collapse that led to a 146-run defeat in a home match against Gauteng.

Overall, though, it is a learning curve, with a mainly young group of players adapting to playing at a higher level. “We are realistic about our shortcomings but I feel that if we can keep this group of players together we will see a big improvement next season.”

What pleases Nackerdien is the willingness of the players to work on their games, with one-on-one sessions with the coach a regular occurrence.

He admits that the one-day performances have been disappointing. “There have been quite a few areas which need work, including the field placing, our playing of spin and a lack of big partnerships. But we are not going to lose focus and there is no need to panic. We have six games to go and we can climb up the table if we stay calm and concentrate on what we are trying to achieve.”