Dragons fired up for massive Africa T20 Cup

The North West Dragons’ strong challenge for glory in this year’s Africa T20 Cup officially starts when the Potchefstroom leg of Pool B takes place at Senwes Park this weekend.
The Dragons, which will look to use home ground knowledge to their advantage will face Northerns, Gauteng and defending champions, Eastern Province in what must surely be the pool of death compared to the other three pools of the tournament.
Still, the Dragons will need to win five matches on the trot to bag their maiden Africa T20 title and the head coach, Monty Jacobs, is aware and ready for the challenges that lie ahead this weekend.
‘The important thing will be to get a good start in our group to build momentum. The Gauteng Strikers are always a tough proposition and facing the defending champions will also be a challenge. The pitch at Senwes Park will be a lot slower at this time of the year and spin bowling will play a big part,’ stated the experienced Jacobs.
According to him, winning scores might be in the area of 160-170 and the pitch should not be conducive to the usual 200+ scores at Senwes Park.
‘We are still a bit unsure about how the pitch will play, especially as the season has only just started. The secret in this year’s competition will be to take each game one step at a time and focus on moments. There are 120 balls in an innings and that creates 120 moments for us to either win or lose in order to win a match,’ he added.
The pace of T20 cricket gives no room for error and Jacobs believes that playing open-minded cricket while focusing on the task at hand will be the key to this unpredictable format.
The Dragons will be without regular franchise players this year as the rules state that only four top-level franchise players can be chosen. The likes of Nicky van den Bergh, Rassie van der Dussen and Dwaine Pretorius lose out while Wihan Lubbe, Aya Myoli, Bjorn Fortuin and Craig Alexander get the nod.
Alexander, who spent some time with the Dolphins, is now back in the North West setup where he cut his teeth as a youngster.
Jonty Rapulana will once again captain the side and the stylish right-hander will look to pile on the pressure with his batting and lead by example with his excellent fielding.
Africa T20: North West squad:
Kagiso Rapulana (captain), Janneman Malan, André Malan, Wihan Lubbe, Marques Ackerman, Ruan Haasbroek, Bjorn Fortuin, Brady Barends, Johannes Diseko, Jovaun van Wyngaardt, Craig Alexander, Aya Myoli, Lesego Senokwane.
Fixtures:
Friday 1 September: Eastern Province vs Gauteng – 12:45
Friday 1 September: North West vs Northerns – 16:00
Saturday 2 September: Gauteng vs Northerns – 09:30
Saturday 2 September: North West vs Eastern Province – 13:00
Sunday 3 September: Northerns vs Eastern Province – 09:30
Sunday 3 September: North West vs Gauteng – 13:00.