The Buildnat Cape Cobras need to be less frantic at the start and the whole team must be more clinical in their pursuit of scores as 300 is no longer mission impossible in the Momentum One Day Cup competition, said Dane Piedt, the skipper, after the visitors lost by 100 runs to the VKB Knights at the Mangaung Oval in the opening match of the domestic 50-over showpiece on Saturday.
Theunis de Bruyn smashed 132 to catapult the hosts to 308 for six.
The visitors were dismissed for 208, despite a defiant 51 by Aviwe Mgijima.
“I think we must be less frantic, buckle up and the top six must accept that other teams will come hard at them. Yet, the Buildnat Cape Cobras can score 300 quite easily, but we had too many mediocre scores,” he said.
Piedt said the wicket was a bit up and down in terms of the pace and bounce at one end of the ground, which made scoring difficult.
He must give credit to the bowling attack who limited the VKB Knights to only 74 runs in the last ten overs.
But a key in a high-scoring match like that is that the Cobras require a solid base and wickets in hand. Instead, they went in pursuit of the total in frantic fashion and lost too many early wickets, which played into the hands of the Knights.
“We need to rectify this situation in our second match on Wednesday 22nd February at Buffalo Park against the Warriors,” said Piedt.
The Cobras utilized two spinners in the match against the VKB Knights and although that was not at the heart of their demise, the move did not exactly bringthe result the visitors were hoping for.
The Cobras also allowed De Lange to unnerve them with his short-pitched bowling, instead of keeping a calm head and waiting for the inevitable long hop or half volley by the fast and furious but slightly inconsistent fast bowler.
The Cobras lost their three first matches in 2012/2013, yet finished as the joint winner of the competition, something that should be slightly reassuring for the Cape champions.