Johannesburg - The Highveld Lions had a light training session at St George’s Park on Monday afternoon, choosing to prioritise mental preparation ahead of their T20 play-off match against the Warriors.
The Lions hope the confidence gained from their stunning 22-run win against a star-studded Cape Cobras side in Paarl on Sunday, will carry over to Tuesday evening when they face a Warriors team whose batting power has stunned the competition in the latter stages of league play.
Geoffrey Toyana felt his side were lucky to get the opportunity to have a winner-take-all encounter against the Cobras after stumbling in their previous two matches, but having taken that chance so emphatically, the coach is optimistic his side can build on Sunday’s success.
“It’s going to be tough, the Warriors play very well at home, but there are a few lessons we will take from our last game at St George’s when we did well to post (152) but then had a shocker with the ball at the ‘death’ and Christiaan Jonker destroyed us,” said Toyana.
That match, played at St George’s Park three weeks ago, had been running close until the 16th over when Jonker hit three sixes and a four off young Wiaan Mulder to snatch the initiative for the hosts.
They eventually won with 13 balls to spare.
“In one way that was a good experience for us, we know what we did wrong and we know we must get our ‘death bowling’ right,” said Toyana.
“It’s important to have clear plans and to execute those plans properly. Hopefully, we can get those right on the night.”
Toyana explained the Lions have still to produce the perfect game in the competition.
Spinner Bjorn Fortuin's two wickets allowed the Lions to tighten the noose around the Cobras batsmen in Paarl. BackpagePix
“When we’ve had one department work well, then something else has let us down, it is why we found ourselves in a must-win situation against the Cobras.”
The Lions’ bowling was horrible in a 46-run loss to the Titans last Wednesday and that was followed by a poor showing with the bat in a surprising defeat against the Knights in Potchefstroom two days later.
“Even against the Cobras, we were 109/2 with six overs to play and it was very disappointing to post just 139,” Toyana said.
“Right now, I’d say we are operating at about 60 to 70percent of what we are capable of doing, if we can up that to 80 or 90, we’ll have a very good chance of qualifying for the final.”
Meanwhile, Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Monday afternoon denied a request from the Gauteng Cricket Board (GCB) to allow fast bowler Kagiso Rabada to play in either tonight’s match or Friday night’s final, were the Lions to qualify. Rabada has been travelling with the Lions in the last week of their T20 campaign and was according to Toyana “very keen” to play.
The GCB wrote to CSA requesting Rabada be made available, but that request was denied by CSA’s medical committee, citing Rabada’s heavy workload in Australia recently and the need for him to rest ahead of the Test series against Sri Lanka - starting in two weeks' time.