Western Province vs Easterns: Newlands chasers meet a side yet to bowl a ball
Tuesday evening in Cape Town brings Western Province against Easterns at Newlands, with first ball at 18:00 local time (19:00 in Moscow). It is a slightly lopsided meeting in one sense. Province have played three times and won the last two, both by chasing, while Easterns have spent their campaign so far watching rain fall on Benoni. One side knows exactly what its weaknesses look like. The other is about to find out.
Western Province: rescued by the batting, worried about the bowling
Province sit third in Pool B on six points, though a net run rate of -0.713 shows how they got there. The opening-night defeat at SuperSport Park still drags on that figure. Titans chased 190 in 14.5 overs, with Leus du Plooy making 77 off 28 balls and Sinethemba Qeshile 59 off 25 (SuperSport).
Since then the batting has done the rescuing. Against Knights on 27 September, Daniel Smith made 86 not out off 46 to steer a chase of 169 home with two balls to spare. In their latest game, two days ago, CSA Emerging posted 194/4 behind Adnaan Lagadien's 106. Joshua van Heerden answered with 88 not out off 46 and hit the winning boundary at 200/4 in 19.4 overs (SuperSport).
Edward Moore is the other half of that engine. He made 62 against Titans and 49 on Sunday, mostly anchoring while van Heerden accelerated. SuperSport called Province's innings in the opener a strong Moore–van Heerden stand squeezed between a poor start and a flat finish. That is the honest shape of this batting order: very good in the middle, less sure at either end.
The bowling has made all three games hard work. Josh Breed has been the steadiest hand, with 3/31 against Knights and 2/26 on Sunday, and Raeeq Daniels took 3/27 against Titans. Elsewhere it has been leaky: Tshepo Moreki went for 52 in 3.5 overs at Centurion, and Jody Lawrence's opening spell there was taken apart by six-hitting.
Van Heerden is candid about it. "I think the team's building confidence at the moment," he said before Sunday's game, but he also named the fix the attack needs: "recognising when batters are trying to take us on" (SA Sports Press). He is effectively asking his bowlers to read a batter's intent before it shows up in the run rate.
George Linde is listed as captain and Smith as wicketkeeper. The bowling pool includes Mihlali Mpongwana, Kyle Simmonds and Waco Bassick alongside Breed, Daniels, Moreki and Lawrence (Cricbuzz). Dane Paterson is also on that list, but he is in South Africa's preliminary squad for the Australia Test in Durban starting on 9 October. That makes him an unlikely pick three days before the Test (SuperSport).
Easterns: a new look, and a first match still to be played
Easterns are fifth on two points, and they earned both without bowling a ball. Their opener against Mpumalanga Rhinos at Willowmoore Park reached the toss, with the visitors choosing to field, and then the rain arrived (Cricket Fanatics Magazine). Their first real T20 outing of the season will be away at Newlands, against a side that has just completed a 195 chase there.
The squad has changed a fair bit over the winter. Wicketkeeper Ronan Herrmann has come from Northern Cape, Merrick Brett from Titans, Aryan Gopalan from Dolphins and Chad Classen from Border. Grant Thomson has retired, Ernest Kemm has gone to Limpopo and Jesse Albanie to Tuskers (Club Cricket SA).
There is a new coach as well. Tumelo Bodibe is in charge of the side this season, which also goes by Eastern Storm, and Classen followed him from the Eastern Cape Iinyathi set-up (The Herald). A seamer who already knows how his coach thinks is useful when the team has barely had a game together.
Christopher Britz captains, with Herrmann keeping. The batting options include Kabelo Sekhukhune, Jurie Snyman, Dewan Marais, Juan Lubbe, Amaan Khan and Brayden Hicks. Classen, Tumelo Simelane, Martin Khumalo, Sabelo Mabanga, Gopalan and Brett make up the bowling pool (Cricbuzz).
This is also the start of a long trip. After Cape Town come Paarl on 8 October, Centurion on the 11th and Bloemfontein on the 14th (Cricket Fanatics Magazine). Four away games in nine days will test how far the squad can stretch.
Why Province start ahead, and where Easterns can hurt them
The forecast is kind for the evening. Showers are expected in the morning, with a partly cloudy evening, a southerly breeze and falling temperatures, and little risk of rain during the match (Weather Underground). The game starts in daylight and finishes under the floodlights. Sunday's game on this ground produced nearly 400 runs and plenty of clean hitting, so a total in the 180s should not frighten anyone here.
Province chose to bowl against Knights at Newlands, and two winning chases since will not have changed their minds. If they win the toss, expect the same plan: let Smith, Moore and van Heerden pace the pursuit. If Easterns bat first, they need to go hard early. Titans and CSA Emerging have both shown what happens when batters take this attack on before it settles.
The bookmakers have Western Province at 1.53 and Easterns at 2.51. That makes Province clear favourites without treating it as a foregone conclusion, and I think that is about right. Province have home familiarity, a batting core in form and Breed's control. Easterns have fresh legs, a reshaped squad nobody has seen at full speed yet, and an opponent whose bowling has leaked runs in every game.
The match turns on one contest. Can Easterns' new-ball pair remove Moore or van Heerden before the partnership grows, and can Province's bowlers, as van Heerden put it, spot the attack coming this time? I lean towards Province, mostly because their batting has found a way three times running. A fourth tight finish at Newlands would not surprise me.
