Assistant coach Wandile Gwavu is confident the Lions will recover from last week’s One-Day Cup defeat to the Dolphins in Pietermaritzburg, come Wednesday’s clash with the Warriors at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.

A century from opener Reeza Hendricks and a complementary half-ton from captain Rassie van der Dussen were not enough for the Lions, who were limited to 323 for nine in pursuit of a 343-run target.

‘We were disappointed we lost the match, but we sat down and took mainly positives from the defeat. It was a high-scoring match, chasing nearly 350, and could have gone either way at the end,’ said Gwavu.

‘We’re back home now for the next game against the Warriors and definitely looking forward to it. We played some good cricket in that game in pockets. The batting was good overall, but the fielding and our bowling was not up to scratch.

‘That’s why we’re looking so much towards the next game to try and improve on those aspects. Chasing such a high total doesn’t happen every day, but I think we gave it a good go.

‘We respect each and every opponent we face, and the Warriors will be no different. They are the joint defending champions and made a good start, but we’ll focus on our game and try to improve on the areas we were not so good at in the last game.’

Warriors assistant coach Mfuneko Ngam anticipated a staunch challenge against a Lions XI laden with Proteas, including Van der Dussen, Hendricks, Wiaan Mulder and Dwaine Pretorius.

‘It’s going to be a tough one. If you look at their team, all their Proteas are back and that makes them even stronger. They’re in good form, too, even though they lost the opening game, so we’ll have to be at our best to beat them,’ added Ngam.

‘The basics are most important and that’s what we’ll need to get right from the start if we want to give ourselves the best chance of coming through.’

Photo: Gallo