Pretoria Capitals can learn from poor SA20 season, says Lion-Cachet

After crashing out of the competition, middle-order batter Keagan Lion-Cachet admits it was not a memorable SA20 season for the Pretoria Capitals, though he feels they can learn from their errors and come back stronger next year.

Needing to win their last game of the league stage with a bonus point, the Capitals were crushed by 95 runs against log leaders MI Cape Town at Newlands on Sunday.

They were dumped out of the competition, alongside Durban’s Super Giants, who had already been eliminated after finishing bottom of the table.

While both sides had two games which were abandoned due to rain, the Capitals and the Super Giants each picked up only two wins, and they were both handed six defeats in what was a campaign that both teams would probably rather forget.

‘Lots we can learn’

However, Lion-Cachet felt there were positives they could take from the third season of the popular T20 competition, despite their poor overall showing.

“We all know how cricket works. It’s one of those sports where it’s so unpredictable you never know what’s going to happen,” said Lion-Cachet.

“Obviously we’ve all got very good players in every team. It’s just a matter of who wants it more.

“I think there are always so many different things that can make a game go wrong, and unfortunately in this tournament it didn’t go our way, so we’ve got lots we can learn from it, and hopefully we can improve individually and as a team next year.”

Valuable experience

Lion-Cachet scored 86 runs in five innings for the Capitals in his debut SA20 season, at an average of 28.66 and a strike rate of 132.30

Though his team missed out on a spot in the playoffs, the 22-year-old player said he appreciated the opportunity to gain experience against some of the world’s best cricketers.

“We didn’t get the result we wanted in the end but there are a lot of lessons to be learned,” he said.

“In terms of the overall experience I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I’m super privileged to be here.

“All the boys brought me in and made me feel like it was a family, so it’s been absolutely awesome.”