Warriors aim to kick up a gear

After notching up the first of the three victories that they need to challenge for the Ram Slam T20 qualifier spots, Colin Ingram admits that the thrill of the Warriors’ task is proving beneficial as they prepare to take on the Knights at the Mangaung Oval in their next assignment.

The Warriors kept the race for the tournament’s play-off game wide open by seeing off the Cape Cobras on Wednesday night, leaving four teams in the running for the qualifier.

While the Cobras are still in pole position with 20 points, the fact that they face the third-placed Sunfoil Dolphins in their remaining fixture means that one of the play-off places is likely to be there for the taking if the Warriors or the Lions can win their final two games.

Ingram says that the intense pressure on the Warriors, who have travelled to Bloemfontein with an unchanged squad, is kicking them into a higher gear.

“You’d obviously prefer to be right up there and not have to play with this pressure, but if you look at the positives, every game is almost a final for us,” he said.

“In that way we can really leave it all out there, and maybe for a bunch of young guys who are quite ambitious, it can be exciting.”

Ingram was pleased with the way that the Warriors “won all the big moments” against the Cobras, recovering from the loss of three early wickets to post an above-average total, and then holding their nerve with the ball and in the field when it mattered.

A similar performance will be required against the Knights, who have bounced back from losing their opening six games in the competition to win their last two games convincingly.

“We’re feeling a lot better after getting some results that suggested how we’ve been playing,” said captain, Werner Coetsee. “We hadn’t played bad cricket before that; we just hadn’t been able to cross the line.

“We’d like to build on that and keep on improving, because there’s still a long season left for us. We want to make sure we take something out of this campaign.”

Sport24