Crucial weekend for Garden Route Badgers

The Easterns have a formidable team, and the Badgers will have to be clinical and consistent over the next four days.

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - The Garden Route Badgers will have to record an outright win this weekend for a place in the final of the four-day Cricket SA division 2 competition.

They will take on the Eastern Storm at home in their final pool match of the competition starting today, Thursday 29 January.

The Badgers had a perfect start in this competition, winning their first three games by big margins, but lost badly in their last two away games against the Northern Cape Heat and Knights.

After five matches, the Knights are the log leaders at 103.74 points, followed by Eastern Storm at 90.18. The Badgers are at 86.90 points, and basically need to win outright to advance to the final. The place at the top of the table seems far away - figuratively and literally, as the Knights will travel to White River where they will take on the Mpumalanga Rhinos.

Bonus points are awarded at the first 100 overs of each team’s first innings as follows:

Batting: one point on reaching 150 and 0.02 points for each run thereafter. Bowling: one point for taking three wickets, two points for five wickets, three points for seven wickets and four points for nine wickets.

Fifteen points are awarded for an outright victory and six for a draw.

The Easterns have a formidable team, and the Badgers will have to be clinical and consistent over the next four days.

Good news for the Badgers, though, is that, with the exception of Jade Richter (ankle injury), all players are fit and ready for the important fixture.

The squad members are:

Yaseen Valli (captain), Ruan Terblanche, Kyle Jacobs, George van Heerden, Nathan Engelbrecht, Pheko Moletsane, Liam Alder, Banele Cele, Zack Momberg, Sintu Majiza, Benni Hansen, Mondli Khumalo, Heath Richards, Tyrece Karelse and Merrick Brett.