Johannesburg – The Warriors have the opportunity to host the RamSlam T20 Challenge play-off on Wednesday if they are able to beat the Highveld Lions at the Wanderers on Sunday afternoon.
That scenario seemed unlikely just a week ago, but were the Warriors able to secure a bonus point win today – or even victory by a large enough margin to improve their net run rate – then St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth would play host to the play-off match against the Dolphins.
It’s been an up-and-down campaign for the Warriors, who’ve won four and lost four of their nine matches with their home league encounter against the Dolphins two weeks ago washed out.
However, the inconsistencies of their league form won’t matter a jot if they win against the flagging Lions this afternoon – and a home play-off would be an unlikely outcome after a generally inconsistent campaign.
There hasn’t been an outstanding player for the Eastern Cape franchise either. Rather they have coaxed performances out of an unlikely set of players to leave them on the cusp of a remarkable achievement.
Their skipper, Colin Ingram, is their undoubted star, but after a solid start to the competition that featured two half-centuries in the first four matches he has gone cold and they’ve relied on some lesser-known names to bring them to the point where a home play-off match is achievable.
Colin Ackerman is their leading run-scorer, with an aggregate of 270, but even in that modest accumulation of runs there are only two fifties.
As an illustration of just how the Warriors have reached this point, Friday’s thrilling last-ball victory against the Knights in Bloemfontein is a good starting point. There they chased down 171, with Somila Seyibokwe making 73 off 57 balls with four fours and four sixes.
It was only Seyibokwe’s second match in the competition but the impact he made could have far- reaching consequences. His 107-run partnership with Jon-Jon Smuts was crucial in enabling that win before Christiaan Jonker hit a four and then scored two off the last couple of balls to claim victory.
A win today for the Warriors would lift them into third place and were they to miss out on a bonus point, or fail to improve on their net run rate, they would travel to Durban to face the Dolphins on Wednesday.
The KwaZulu-Natalians got out of their post-Kevin Pietersen slump to overcome the Cape Cobras on Friday night and, as with the Cape franchise, will keep a close eye on proceedings at the Wanderers today when a win for the Lions would see the Cobras head back to Durban for the play-off.
Following their hammering by the Titans in Benoni on Friday, the Lions are out of the competition. They experimented with a young squad and perhaps the benefits will only be felt next season – at least that’s what Lions’ coach Geoffrey Toyana will hope.
In today’s other match, the Titans, who are already set to host the final in Centurion next week, will play the Knights in Benoni.