The performance by the spinners George Linde and Nkululeko Serame as well as the fast bowlers Rory Kleinveldt and Dane Paterson have been a source of inspiration for the Buildnat Cape Cobras which propelled them to their maiden T20 Challenge win against the Warriors on Friday at PPC Newlands.
And despite the heart-breaking three run loss on Sunday (according to the Duckworth/Lewis method of recalculation) against the bizhub Highveld Lions, Linde is not deflated. “The Buildnat Cape Cobras can still win this competition. There are not too many points separating us from the other teams in the middle of the log,” he said.
The Multiply Titans are currently at the summit of the log, but only one point separates the third-placed VKB Knights and the fifth-placed Buildnat Cape in a congested mid-table.
Linde (3-23), Serame (2-19) and Kleinveldt (2-16) were the destroyers-in-chief on Friday as they derailed the chase by the Warriors at PPC Newlands. The Cobras won by 12 runs.
On Sunday, Linde’s valiant effort to strike a four which would have taken the Buildnat Cape Cobras to a win against the Lions, was thwarted and the Cobras lost by a painful three runs.
“I do think our fielding cost us the match against the Lions. There was one catch dropped, but we allowed too many singles to be converted to twos which we should not have allowed,” Linde said.
“In one over by Parnell, they converted singles into twos on four occasions, and remember, we lost by three runs,” he said.
Linde is confident about the Buildnat Cape Cobras attack. “We have so much experience in that team, as Paterson, Kieron Pollard, Kleinveldt and me were part of the team that won the Ram Slam T20 Challenge two seasons ago. And Beuran Hendricks is sitting on the side-lines. He has Indian Premier League experience (and also represented South Africa at the ICC World Twenty20),” said Linde.
Linde is very confident that if the Cobras beat the Hollywoodbets Dolphins on Wednesday at PPC Newlands, they will be back with a bang.
Another win against the Multiply Titans on Friday will take the champions closer to the play-offs. Hope springs eternal, and Linde, one of the premier members of #FutGen (future generation) in the Cape Cobras team, encapsulates the spirit of defiance and eternal optimism.
“We can win this. Just imagine us playing at PPC Newlands with the crowd behind us in the final,” he said.
Linde is determined that he wants to improve on his statistics of 2014/2015 in which he finished with 14 wickets. I have taken five now (at at an average of 17.80 and I want to eclipse my previous effort.
“I don’t rely too much on the spin. I can spin it prodigiously, but I mainly use the bounce, as well as the Yorkers, to do the damage. Of my five victims, three were beaten by the Yorkers,” he said.
