Cape Town - There hasn’t been much to smile about at Newlands of late. The Cape Cobras are languishing in last place on the Sunfoil Series table after two consecutive opening season defeats and the CCMA is set to hear the aggrieved players’ grievances against coach Paul Adams on Monday.
However, amidst the doom and gloom, there is a young man that is determined not to let all the negativity affect his personal performances. All-rounder Jason Smith is using it as motivation to keep “putting the numbers on the board”.
With the core of the Cobras senior batting unit still in hibernation, it has primarily been left to Smith and fellow batting prodigy Zubayr Hamza to keep the Cobras afloat. After missing out on a maiden Cobras first-class century on the opening weekend when falling just five runs short against the Highveld Lions at the Wanderers, Smith made amends in the next game with a 100 not out off just 88 balls (17x4, 1x6) against the Knights in Bloemfontein.
Both were special innings due to Smith having to shoulder the majority of the responsibility as his partners were largely tailenders. It showed the maturity the former South Africa U19 international possesses as he was able to construct an innings despite wickets tumbling around him.
“I can’t believe how well the season has started for me personally because I’m not trying to put any pressure on myself. I am just taking it game by game, but hopefully by putting numbers on the board I am contributing to the team’s cause,” Smith told Independent Media.
“Batting with the tail… I like situations like that. It has been tough, but I just keep going. I’m the kind of batsman that’s not going to pat a bad ball back. I’m gonna whack it! So, that kind of frees me up a bit too just to play my natural game.”
With 215 runs thus far, at an average of 71.66, Smith is currently fourth on the national run-scoring charts behind Warriors top-order duo Colin Ackerman (237 at 59.25) and Eddie Moore (224 at 74.66) and Titans wicket-keeper Heinrich Klaasen (219 at 73.0). However, the impressive aspect of Smith’s contributions was that it has come against high-quality pace attacks with the Lions boasting Proteas capped Hardus Viljoen and the Knights also featuring Marchant de Lange and Duanne Olivier.
All three gave the Cobras batsmen the real “hurry up” with Viljoen bagging a “six-for” at the Bullring, while De Lange followed suit with another six-wicket haul at the Mangaung Oval.
“I am going to be honest with you. Those guys are quite scary! It is not every day you get bowlers charging in and letting it go at over 140 clicks (km/h). That was quite an experience. I definitely had to be wide awake from ball one. The bowlers also don’t give you that many freebies, they are a lot more consistent and you have to be more patient,” he said.
The Cobras’ challenge doesn’t get much easier this weekend with the in-form Warriors, who are fresh from springing a surprise victory over the defending champions the Titans, visiting Newlands. Smith, though, believes the familiar surroundings of the Oaks and Table Mountain could just be the inspiration the former champions need to kickstart their season.
“Our start obviously hasn’t been ideal, but the boys are really looking forward to playing at home. Zubi (Zubayr Hamza) and I are not putting to much pressure on ourselves. We know it’s our first season and we just enjoying it at the moment, but we do want to see the team move up. It’s not nice being at the bottom of the table. Playing at home, especially at Newlands, is always a nice thing. The guys know the conditions and hopefully we can build a bit of momentum here to get our season going.”
Independent Media