Ashwell Prince says he is proud of the way the Cobras have recovered after a troubling start to their Ram Slam T20 Challenge campaign.
The Cobras coach saw his side take down the Warriors in their last game on Wednesday evening in Paarl. It capped a beneficial home sequence for them as they rocketed from last to second, and have now given themselves a strong chance to reach the play-offs.
‘It was great to have our people behind us in the last three matches, and it was even better to deliver for them,’ Prince said.
‘Not only did we get three wins in a row, but we were tested in many areas, especially our character, and came through in a lot of them. That was very encouraging.
‘There’s no easy team to play against in this competition. Every game is important, and this one will be no different. But we’ll be confident on the back of those last three results, and hopefully we can win a game in Durban to try and build on that.’
Dolphins coach Grant Morgan believes there is no point complaining about the weather as they prepare to welcome the Cape Cobras to Durban for their Ram Slam T20 Challenge encounter at Kingsmead on Friday.
Even though it is the sixth match for the hosts, they have only played two games so far because of the rain that has followed them almost everywhere they have played.
Home matches against the VKB Knights and the Warriors were washed out, while the same happened on their trip to Benoni to play the Titans, leaving players most frustrated.
But Morgan says they are not letting it bother them. ‘I think we’ve reached a point where we’ve come to peace with that,’ he said. ‘It hasn’t affected us and instead we look at it from the opposite side, which is we’re fresher than the other sides and that will hopefully give us the advantage.’
Minimal rain is forecast for Durban on Friday, but the weather patterns have been mainly unpredictable in recent weeks. It all means that the Dolphins have managed to amass 10 points thus far, which places them third, two points behind the Cobras and 13 fewer than runaway leaders the Titans.
The Cape side lost their opening three games of the campaign, but have since won three on the bounce.
Morgan says he was not looking too far beyond them when asked how many wins may be needed in the remaining five rounds in order to secure a semi-final berth.
‘We haven’t really spoken about that, we like to take it one game at a time, and for now that focus is on this Cobras game,’ he adds. ‘I think the boys really want to entertain. But if I had to put a number on it, I will probably say three wins will do it.’
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