The Paarl Royals will be eager to “dust ourselves down” when they face MI Cape Town in the second instalment of the SA20 Cape at Boland Park tonight (5.30pm start), according to senior batter Joe Root.
The Royals headed to Newlands for the first-round clash on Monday filled with confidence after dispatching defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape in Paarl in their competition opener.
However, the Royals hit an immediate speed-bump, with MI Cape Town claiming the honours with a comfortable 33-run victory over their neighbours from the Winelands.
But they now have an opportunity to avenge the defeat in the return match this evening.
Root, who is England’s most successful captain and leading Test run-scorer, has experienced the swings and roundabouts during his long and illustrious career, and believes the key to success is not getting too carried away with either result.
“Momentum is a big thing in this format,” Root said. “I think the key for us is not to look too far into it.
“We played almost the perfect game the first time around, and everything we tried did not work tonight.
“Stay true to what we want to do in this tournament. Dusting ourselves down and being ready to take them on again on Wednesday.
“The good thing is we’ll have a fair idea of what’s coming our way.”
The SA20 scheduling is quite intense, with each team virtually playing almost every second day. This could potentially take its toll on the players, but Root believes that it’s actually a blessing in disguise.
“I think you have to use your downtime properly off the field, so that your mind is fresh,” he said.
“In a tournament like this, it’s so much fun, you turn up excited anyway. You are not too worried about it, because you’re looking forward to another opportunity.”
The Boland Park surface will certainly be in complete contrast to the Newlands pitch, which was particularly helpful to the seamers.
Fellow Royals Englishman Sam Hain certainly believes the comforts of home will better suit the men in pink.
“I think it’s just different. It’s a different style of cricket I believe. We have a team that is able to deal with whatever is being thrown at us. We will regroup and come back on Wednesday,” said Hain.
”𝘞𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦, 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴.” 💗 pic.twitter.com/fjWtVdOdfw
— Paarl Royals (@paarlroyals) January 14, 2025
MI Cape Town’s Reeza Hendricks admitted that the Boland Park surface will be a challenge, but that the visitors will be up for the task tonight.
“It’s a quick turnaround. We’ll obviously take confidence from today (Monday) going into Wednesday’s game. Different venues, so we’ll have to adapt to conditions,” Hendricks said.
“It’s in front of their home crowd, but yeah, hopefully we can do more of the same.
“We’ll have to adapt to conditions, and yeah, I think nothing really changes. It’s just basically us adapting to conditions and play accordingly.” | Independent Media Sport