The Boys In Blue have set the stage for the Knights showdown

December 2024

NEWLANDS – World Sports Betting Western Province will be looking to bounce back when they welcome the Knights to WSB Newlands on Friday in the CSA 4-Day Series.

Having suffered a defeat in their last encounter up North and a draw at home a fortnight ago, the Boys In Blue have prepared well to celebrate Christmas on a high.

The game is set to start at 10h00 and will be live-streamed on the Cricket South Africa YouTube page.

The team sees the return of three players, who were out due to injuries – captain Beuran Hendricks, bowler Wesley Bedja and All-Rounder Juan James.

Hendricks missed two 4-Day Series games due to a hamstring injury, James has returned to the fore after suffering a hamstring injury in the CSA T20 Challenge against the Hollywoodbets Dolphins at the beginning of the season and Bedja has recovered after fracturing his finger during a training session.

James believes the team will overcome what transpired in the past two matches.

“Training has been going well this week since we were off last week. I think we had a good session on Monday, the boys put in some really hard work yesterday to end off the week’s preparation,” said James.

“We just put in a fitness session yesterday [Tuesday], so today [Wednesday] we got some good work in and prepared well. I think this week is really important for us.

“Obviously, we’re missing a couple of key guys. So, it’s going to be a young-ish team and hopefully, the younger guys can pull it through for us because it’s very important for us to win this game.”

James says winning at home this week would be a good Christmas present for the Boys In Blue and the Newlands Faithful.

“I just think you take momentum into that little break before the next half of the season,” he said.

“So, hopefully, we can build a bit of momentum and end this first half of the season off on a good note.”

James added: “Obviously they got promoted last season. I think they’re also coming off a couple of iffy results, so they would also want to bounce back. So, I think it’s going to be a really good challenge this week.”

WSB Western Province squad against Knights:

Kyle Simmonds, Mthi Nabe, Oliver Whitehead, Jono Bird, Bongi Mfunelwa, Daniel Smith, Valentine Kitime, Beuran Hendricks (Captain), Yaseen Vallie, Eddie Moore, Mihlali Mpongwana, Jody Lawrence, Onke Nyaku, Juan James, Wesley Bedja.