• Warriors kicked out of playoffs for quota breach

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    The EP Warriors will not contest Wednesday’s playoff for a place in the One-Day Cup final after failing to meet CSA’s quota requirements in an earlier match against the KZN Dolphins.

    The Warriors – who are coached by former Proteas spinner Robin Peterson – finished third on the log after the league stage and were set to face the second-placed Northerns Titans in Centurion, with the winner meeting Boland in Sunday’s final in Paarl.

    However, on Sunday Netwerk24 reported that the Warriors could be docked log points for failing to select three “black African” players against the Dolphins at Kingsmead (only two – Andile Mokgakane and Sinethemba Qeshile – took to the field for a match that the visitors won by 116 runs).

    On Monday morning, the Dolphins posted on social media that they would be hosting the playoff having finished second on the log, after being awarded the log points from their match against the Warriors.

    CSA head of domestic cricket Eddie Khoza later told Sport24 that the Warriors had been punished for failing to communicate their missed transformation target.

    “If you look at the situation we are dealing with at this point in time, there was no approach to CSA,” he said. “For every situation, there would normally be communication from the member if there’s a problem.

    “For example, when Western Province played against North West, one of their black players got injured in that match, and the following day, they had to play the Titans; there was no break in between.

    “They had to ask permission because they couldn’t comply the following day, because the player they wanted to bring up couldn’t get the flight.

    “On matters of that nature, we engaged with the Titans and Western Province to say we are sitting on this challenge, and they can agree to say they can go into this match without fulfilling the required target.”

    Photo: Richard Huggard/Gallo Images

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    Simon Borchardt