Knights assistant coach Werner Coetsee says his players are determined to get some reward for the hard work they have put in over the first few weeks of the One-Day Cup season when they welcome the Dolphins to Bloemfontein on Friday.

The Central Franchise are the only winless team in the 2019-20 campaign so far, losing both their opening games.

The first one of those was to the same opponents in Durban, before they succumbed to another loss to the Warriors – both coming as a result of shocking batting displays.

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But ahead of the game at the Mangaung Oval, Coetsee says their squad is much better than the performances have been suggesting.

‘It’s important for us to transfer the work that we’ve been doing out on the training field into the matches we are playing,’ he lamented. ‘We are all determined to do that.

‘The camp is in good spirits, the guys are working really hard, so I’m confident it’s just a matter of time before our efforts will be rewarded. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow, and everything will click into place.’

The Knights were bowled out for 115 in their first game and then fell to 164 in their next one, both scores that rarely win any cricket games.

Coetsee admits that everyone understands where they have fallen short, adding that they were now keen to just find some rhythm.

He added: ‘It’s always important to get that first win under the belt, it just gives you that early boost in the competition and the guys have something to build on.

‘We’ve also had some gaps between the first few games, so that hasn’t been good. But from now on the games are going to come quicker, so if we can get that first one then others will follow.’

The Dolphins, meanwhile, will be desperate for a return to winning ways after coming agonisingly close to making it three from three when they lost out by five runs on the DLS method to the Cape Cobras at the weekend.

Their captain, Keshav Maharaj, is nonetheless satisfied with the way things have panned out so far.

‘Duckworth-Lewis didn’t help us in Maritzburg, but I still think it was a good effort from us to chase those runs [321 target],’ he said. ‘We’re looking forward to the return game against the Knights now and, if we can win, it will be great.

‘Three out of four games is an ideal platform to set off your campaign and that is what we will be aiming to do in Bloem.’

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