The Six Gun Grill Garden Route Badgers will shift their attention to the Cricket South Africa Division 2 Four-Day competition this weekend when they travel to White River in Mpumalanga where they will take on the Rhinos in a four-day match – starting on Thursday the 9th.
The Badgers will be fresh from trophy success after they clinched the One-Day Cup in dramatic fashion on 28 December but they will need to win the Four-Day trophy in their quest for promotion to division one next season. The Badgers had a slow start in this competition and is currently in 5th position (at 30.76 points after 2 matches) with one victory. The Northern Cape Heat is strongly position at the top of the table with 88.46 points after 4 matches. Each team will play six matches in total. The Badgers will therefore need an outright victory to stay in the run.
Picture: © Christiaan Kotze/BackpagePix
Good news for the Badgers is that Jean du Plessis, André Malan and Marcello Piedt all recovered from injuries and will be fit and ready for this vital fixture. The selectors have also rewarded the former SA U/19 players, Tyrece Karelse, with a call-up after impressive performances for the Academy team and at club level. Onke Nyaku will retain the captaincy. Pheko Moletsane and Keenan Vieira was not considered for selection.
The squad for the weekend is: Blayde Capell, Matthew Christensen, Jhedli van Briesies, André Malan, Onke Nyaku (captain), Jean du Plessis, Hanno Kotze, Sean Whitehead, Tyrece Karelse, Basheer Walters, Sintu Majiza, Marcello Piedt and Jarred Jardine.
The rest of the remaining fixtures of the Badgers are:
- vs Eastern Cape IIanyathi in East London: 23-26 February
- vs Tuskers in Oudtshoorn: 2-5 March
- vs Northern Cape Heat in Oudtshoorn: 9-12 March
