MI Cape Town coach Robin Peterson during the Post Match Press Conference MI Cape Town coach Robin Peterson is confident they can make full use of their last two round robin SA 20 fixtures, starting with their clash against the Pretoria Capitals on Thursday. Picture: Shaun Roy/SportzPics
The Pretoria Capitals and MI Cape Town will aim to keep their SA20 play-off hopes alive in a bottom-of-the-table clash at SuperSport Park in Centurion (5.30pm start).
The two teams are left with back-to-back encounters against each other, with one scheduled for tonight and the other for Saturday afternoon at Newlands – meaning at least one of the teams will not be part of next week’s play-offs.
However, MI Cape Town coach Robin Peterson is confident they can make full use of their last two round robin fixtures.
“We can still qualify, and we’re still positive,” said Peterson.
“There’s two games that we have to win in two venues where I think most of the bonus points have come from: Centurion and Newlands. The boys are still in good spirits and still believe.”
The Cape outfit have evidently been an improved side under the leadership of former West Indies captain Kieron Pollard. However, they have been unfortunate, losing most of their close encounters thus far.
MI Cape Town have also had very little luck go their way this season, with Monday night’s defeat to the Joburg Super Kings at Newlands a prime example as rain intervened during their batting innings.
“We obviously want the fans to get what they want, but I think ultimately when you play a game of cricket, you want it to be a fair contest. Was this a fair one? I’m not too sure. That’s for the people to decide,” said Peterson.
Batting first, MI Cape Town got off to a cracking start, reaching 43-1 after six overs before the rain came down.
When play resumed following an almost three-hour delay, the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method had reduced the game to an eight-overs-per-side contest, essentially leaving the Cape team with only three overs to get a competitive score.
They finished on 80-3 with the DLS method bumping up the target to 98 runs, leaving a clear advantage for the Super Kings.
“Our boys tried hard, bowled with the wet ball for eight overs and in the rain for four of those overs towards the back end of their win. There’s not much you can do when you’re given that amount of time and you still have to bowl in the wet,” he said.
“It’s a hard one to take because you feel that you got hard done by, but you don’t get everything in life. We’ll just go again next game and try win our next two … We try to keep everybody happy despite feeling hurt that we weren’t looked after in this game.”