The Cape Cobras will head to Newlands on Sunday with a spring in their step after picking up their first points in the RamSlam T20 Challenge competition on Friday evening.
It wasn’t pretty, or clinical for that matter, but JP Duminy’s team managed to get the job done, which is all that counts at this stage.
Duminy admitted in the aftermath that the Cobras are “far from the finished article” and he would be perfectly correct in this assessment as the Western Cape side is still dropping far too many catches, while they also still need to find a way to get off to a positive start with the bat.
Opener Richard Levi has been especially poor in the campaign thus far and today’s match against the Knights (4pm) - the second game of a double-header that also involves the Warriors and Highveld Lions (12 noon) - could be the “last-chance saloon” for the powerful right-hander.
The Cobras management have shown they are not afraid to wield the axe, with Wayne Parnell, Jason Smith and Qaasim Adams already sent to Potchefstroom to do duty for the Western Province semi-pro team today.
Boland wicketkeeper/batsman Ricardo Vasconcelos is eagerly waiting in the wings for a Cobras debut and will have been buoyed by the impact his provincial teammate Ferisco Adams made on Friday evening.
Adams held his nerve with the ball in a tense final over and will be looking to take that confidence into the clash against a Knights side that is sitting pretty on 10 points on the log. They are joint second with the Dolphins, but the central franchise have played one game fewer.
The Cobras victory over the Lions lifted them off the bottom rung on the log and the home side can move up even further should they claim another victory today.