Rubin Hermann will be key for the Dragons this season. | BackpagePix
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The North West Dragons, under the captaincy of top-order batter Wihan Lubbe, will host the Tuskers at JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom from Thursday as the Cricket South Africa Four-Day Series gets the 2025/26 domestic season underway.
The Dragons endured a tough 2024/25 Four-Day Series season, as they were unable to register a single victory in the competition, and will be out to amend that in what is going to be a highly competitive Four-Day Series campaign starting this week.
The Dragons have made good signings this season, in an attempt to bolster their squad, as they brought in former South Africa under-19 and Eastern Province left-arm spinner Jade de Klerk from the Division Two Eastern Cape Iinyathi.
De Klerk, in his teenage years, was earmarked to great things in his career, but has not been able to thus far. However, at 26 years of age, and having spent many years in domestic cricket, the spinner has all that is necessary to make a success of himself at the Dragons.
The men from Potchefstroom have also signed Dian Forrester, a young all-rounder who has blasted two centuries in 13 First-Class games thus far.
For Lubbe, making sure the team is in the fight at the end of the competition is the goal, and he firmly believes the Dragons are a united squad shaped to withstand the pressures of a long season.
"We have got a well-balanced squad of players going into the season, and we feel that we can compete across all formats, and we want to make sure we can compete in 4-Day cricket because that's been our Achilles heel in the past," Lubbe said.
"Looking at the season as a whole, we're going to have the majority of our squad available throughout, which will be an advantage for us. This makes our balance easier to maintain, which bodes well for our goal to win trophies.
"On top of the culture that we are trying to build, we've signed well in terms of getting players that fit the mould and have that fight in them.
"The character of each of the players is something that will get us through when times get tough during the season."
With a home game against the Tuskers to open the season, the 32-year-old feels that the side needs to improve its home record in Four-Day cricket.
"Over the years, we haven't quite been able to nail down our blueprint for winning four-day games in Potch. This is something that we have definitely been paying attention to, and we feel we should be winning our home games.
"We are certainly looking at home ground advantage as a big thing this season across the competitions because we generally get good crowds in and want to take advantage of that.
The Dragons played three matches at home last season, with all ending in draws, while their final match against Western Province was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
The Dragons will feel slightly buoyed by the fact that they were unbeaten at home, but will be out to add to the wins column.
Lubbe feels that their preparation has gone well in the pre-season and added that they have time to get to know each other as the squad, given the new recruits that have joined over the winter.
“We’ve had the majority of the squad together with us for the last few weeks, which has been great,” Lubbe said. “We’ve had enough time to get to know each other and bond away from cricket, which is always good going into the season.
“The final bits of preparation have gone well for us as well, and we’re excited to get the season underway.”
In other fixtures, the Warriors will host Western Province at St George’s Park in Gqeberha, while last season’s joint-winners, the Titans, will travel to Paarl to play against Boland.
The other joint-winners from last season, the Lions, will start their campaign on 02 October, as they’re set to take on Western Province at Newlands.
The Dolphins will also start their campaign on 02 October away from home against Boland.