Interviews
THERE'S BELIEF IN OUR GROUP - CAPITALS COACH GRAHAM FORD
Pretoria Capitals coach Graham Ford is hoping to put smiles on the faces of the Centurion crowd when they face Durban's Super Giants in tonight’s Betway SA20 clash.
The Capitals have yet to get on the board in Season 2, but Ford believes that his team is still playing a positive brand of cricket. He is hoping that translates into a victory over an unbeaten DSG team.
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“We sure are looking for our first win,” said Ford.
“It was very disappointing on Sunday night, but then when I watched the game again and looked at the quality of cricket that we played I was positive and upbeat. And I’d like to think the group is positive having analysed and looked at the game.
“We played a hell of a game of cricket, unfortunately we just came short. Often when you lose, because you have a loss against your name, you kind of think you’re playing bad cricket but I thought we played good cricket.
Rilee Rossouw and Will Jacks' record-breaking partnership for Centurion sure had the sold out crowd excited, even if the Capitals could get over the line to beat Paarl Royals.
“Of course we want to try and do a little bit better than that so that we can go home with smiles on our faces. I think the guys are pretty determined and there’s belief within the group that we are a good team,” he added.
Ford believes that despite the narrow last over defeat to the Paarl Royals in their last match, the sold out crowd at Centurion were still treated to a spectacle, which shows that the Capitals will never give up.
“The thing that I’m really grateful for is that we did entertain them and as a group we quite often talk about wanting to play a good brand of cricket and I think we did,” he said.
“And probably when we were 4/2 chasing 210, there might have been an odd person thinking it’s time to go home but they got a lot of fun and entertainment. Likewise, they gave us a lot of support, encouragement and also energised our group.”
Heinrich Klaasen is in red-hot form and will need to be kept quiet on Thursday at Centurion - his domestic home ground.
It is going to be no easy task against a DSG line-up that hit the ground running in Season 2.
The Kingsmead side certainly boast an in-form batting line-up, especially red-hot middle order batter Heinrich Klaasen, who returns to arguably his favourite venue in the country.
Klaasen struck a maiden Betway SA20 century here at Centurion in the corresponding fixture last season.
The Super Giants have had to make changes to their squad after the victory over JSK on Monday though with both overseas stars Nicholas Pooran and Richard Gleeson departing.
They have managed to secure able replacements in Australian World Cup winner Marcus Stoinis and Afghanistan’s Naveen-ul-Haq.
FULL SQUADS FOR CENTURION
Pretoria Capitals: Wayne Parnell (captain), Matthew Boast, Corbin Bosch, Eathan Bosch, Shane Dadswell, Theunis de Bruyn, Daryn Dupavillon, Colin Ingram, Will Jacks, Senuran Muthusamy, Jimmy Neesham, Migael Pretorius, Adil Rashid, Rilee Rossouw, Phil Salt, Paul Stirling, Tiaan van Vuuren, Kyle Verreynne, Hardus Viljoen.
Durban's Super Giants: Keshav Maharaj (captain), Noor Ahmad, Matthew Breetzke, Junior Dala, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Heinrich Klaasen, Kyle Mayers, Wiaan Mulder, Naveen-ul-Haq Murid, Bryce Parsons, Keemo Paul, Dwaine Pretorius, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jon-Jon Smuts, Jason Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Prenelan Subrayen, Reece Topley.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Match referee: Shandre Fritz
Standing umpires: Babalo Gcuma and Abdongile Sodumo
TV umpire: Brad White
Reserve umpire: Ryan Hendricks
