THE BORDER Cricket Senior Provincial team suffered their first Cricket South Africa (CSA) Three Day challenge clash defeat and continued their poor start to their CSA One Day Cup title defence against North West this past weekend.
Border conceded their first CSA Three Day Challenge loss in three games after registering impressive wins against Free State and Easterns in their first two games.
Border coach Frank Plaatjes said one of the contributing factors to the loss was their inability to adjust to the playing conditions early in the game.
“I think we took too long to adjust to the condition of the pitch and how it behaved when we batted.
“When we came out to bowl we didn’t hit the right line and length. We took half a day to adjust and only started picking up wickets on day two.
“Above all, I think we were outplayed. North West batted for longer and secured good partnerships in their top six batsman and we failed to do any of that,” said Plaatjes.
Border also continued their poor start to their One Day Cup title defence with their second loss in three games after their second game was washed out against Easterns.
The defending champs were skittled out for 139 in 45 overs and inevitably lost the clash by a crushing eight wickets.
The defeat followed up their opening loss to Free State at the United Cricket Grounds in East London.
To rub more salt into the wound, Border also suffered a setback with fast bowler Thandolwethu Mnyaka picking up an Achilles tendon injury, which has put him in doubt for this week’s clash, three balls into his first over.
Plaatjes reaffirmed their first priority is to get back to winning ways first before focusing on the rest of the tournament.
“We need to start winning games first, starting with this coming Sunday’s game.
“We’ve had a bad start to the competition but we are in no space to panic, but we all know what is needed of each other in pulling things back.
“We’ve also taken our start as a wake up call and we’ve taken the opportunity to revert to the drawing board and look at things from a different perspective,” added Plaatjes. Border will play Northerns in their CSA Three Day Challenge clash at the United Cricket Grounds from Thursday 14-16 tomorrow until Saturday with the One Day Cup game scheduled for Buffalo Park on Sunday.