It has been an up and down season so far for the Border semi-professional cricket team after their first two months of action in the 2016-17 provincial cricket season.
Since getting onto their campaign in October Border have played six matches, three in the Sunfoil 3-day Cup and three in the Cricket South Africa Provincial One-Day Challenge.
After taking on Northerns this past weekend, Border will now have a two-week break to reflect on their season to date before their next match at the start of next month.
“In the two competitions this season, I am happy with how we have played in the longer version so far, but we have struggled a bit in the shorter format,” Border coach Frank Plaatjes said.
“We could have had a better start to the season, we found ourselves in a couple of good situations that we weren't able to capitalise on, but despite that we have done well.”
Border have drawn all three of the Sunfoil Cup matches so far.
Their opening match draw against North West was probably one they should have won after getting into a really good position on the morning of day three, before a heroic North West fight back from their lower order batsmen forced the draw.
The next game against Free State saw Border get a really good start to the match from their batting department, which set them up well on the morning of day two, but Free State’s reply was good enough to force Border to bat again and that saw the match then meander to another draw.
Border’s last three-day game was then pretty much washed out as Border only managed to face just over 41 overs on the first day, struggling to 120/7 on a bowler friendly wicket, while the next two days of play were completely rained out.
“Our batting has been really good in the matches so far, except for the Northerns game, but those were very difficult conditions,” said Plaatjes.
“Our bowlers have yet to hit their best form, but I feel that they are building up to it and I am confident that they will be back to their best very soon.”
A look at the standings shows Border second from bottom of the pool A log after two matches, while they are in mid-table in the cross-pool log after one match.
However with it being so early in the season things can change drastically over the rest of it and Border will be aiming to move further up both logs.
“I think a top three finish in the Sunfoil Cup is very attainable and that is what we will be striving for over the rest of the season,” said Plaatjes. In the one-day challenge Border have not enjoyed a very good start after they won their first match but then lost the subsequent two. Their good all-round performance against North West was then undone with a poor bowling effort against Free State and then against Northerns the bowlers did well, but the batsmen failed to turn up. Border have won the one-day challenge twice in the past four years and if they are to repeat the feat they will have to improve drastically in their coming games.
“We were really good against North West, but then against Free State 350 was too much to chase and against Northerns I thought the score was very chase-able but we batted very poorly,” said Plaatjes.
“We are a very good one-day team though and I believe we can still challenge for the title, but we will need to win most, if not all of our remaining matches, but we can do it.”
Border are next in action from December 1-3 against Northern Cape at Buffalo Park in the Sunfoil Cup and they will then play a one-day challenge match against the same opponents on December 4.
Rollercoaster ride did not do Border favours
Since getting onto their campaign in October Border have played six matches, three in the Sunfoil 3-day Cup and three in the Cricket South Africa Provincial One-Day Challenge.
After taking on Northerns this past weekend, Border will now have a two-week break to reflect on their season to date before their next match at the start of next month.
“In the two competitions this season, I am happy with how we have played in the longer version so far, but we have struggled a bit in the shorter format,” Border coach Frank Plaatjes said.
“We could have had a better start to the season, we found ourselves in a couple of good situations that we weren't able to capitalise on, but despite that we have done well.”
Border have drawn all three of the Sunfoil Cup matches so far.
Their opening match draw against North West was probably one they should have won after getting into a really good position on the morning of day three, before a heroic North West fight back from their lower order batsmen forced the draw.
The next game against Free State saw Border get a really good start to the match from their batting department, which set them up well on the morning of day two, but Free State’s reply was good enough to force Border to bat again and that saw the match then meander to another draw.
Border’s last three-day game was then pretty much washed out as Border only managed to face just over 41 overs on the first day, struggling to 120/7 on a bowler friendly wicket, while the next two days of play were completely rained out.
“Our batting has been really good in the matches so far, except for the Northerns game, but those were very difficult conditions,” said Plaatjes.
“Our bowlers have yet to hit their best form, but I feel that they are building up to it and I am confident that they will be back to their best very soon.”
A look at the standings shows Border second from bottom of the pool A log after two matches, while they are in mid-table in the cross-pool log after one match.
However with it being so early in the season things can change drastically over the rest of it and Border will be aiming to move further up both logs.
“I think a top three finish in the Sunfoil Cup is very attainable and that is what we will be striving for over the rest of the season,” said Plaatjes. In the one-day challenge Border have not enjoyed a very good start after they won their first match but then lost the subsequent two. Their good all-round performance against North West was then undone with a poor bowling effort against Free State and then against Northerns the bowlers did well, but the batsmen failed to turn up. Border have won the one-day challenge twice in the past four years and if they are to repeat the feat they will have to improve drastically in their coming games.
“We were really good against North West, but then against Free State 350 was too much to chase and against Northerns I thought the score was very chase-able but we batted very poorly,” said Plaatjes.
“We are a very good one-day team though and I believe we can still challenge for the title, but we will need to win most, if not all of our remaining matches, but we can do it.”
Border are next in action from December 1-3 against Northern Cape at Buffalo Park in the Sunfoil Cup and they will then play a one-day challenge match against the same opponents on December 4.
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