The Garden Route Badgers will have their work cut out this week as the reached the elimination stage of the Cricket South African Division 2 Twenty20 Challenge.
The Badgers (at 14 points) finished third behind the Knights (1st on 20 points) and Eastern Cape Iianyathi (2nd on 19 points) after the preliminary round of the competition.
The past week the Badgers, on Wednesday at the REC Ground lost 6 wickets to the Eastern Storm in a run festival. The Badgers who batted first posted 176/6 with Yaseen Valli (42), George van Heerden (32) and Liam Alder (32), the top runs scorers. The Eastern Storm recorded the highest successful run chase by a team batting second (179/4 in 19.1 overs) as they won by 6 wickets. Jade Richter (2/26) and Kyle Jacobs (2/41) were the top wicket tackers.
Their final pool match on Saturday against the Knights in Bloemfontein was abandoned without a ball bowled following uninterrupted rain.
The Badgers will be in action at the REC Cricket Stadium on Wednesday at 1pm when they take on the Mpumalanga Rhino’s in the first eliminator. The winner on Friday (21st) will take on the loser of the first qualifier when the Knights (1st) will play the Eastern Cape Iianyathi (2nd) in Bloemfontein on Tuesday, The winner of that Bloemfontein fixture will qualify for a home final.
The final will be played on Sunday 23rd of November in either Bloemfontein or East London.
