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Cape Town - Knights coach Nicky Boje insists the form of the Warriors is a little concern to him as the two sides prepare for a bottom-of-the-table One-Day Cup battle at the Diamond Oval in Kimberley on Tuesday.
The visitors have lost their last three games after beginning the competition with a win, while the hosts, who have only played two games thus far, were beaten in their opening match, before playing to a dramatic tie against the Highveld Lions on Friday.
Boje insists the focus for him was on their own game rather than any of their opponents.
“You can’t worry about those things,” he said. “You’ve got to play it as it is on the day.
“They still have quality individual players and you just need one of those guys to spark and then it’s a different story.
“But we’ve got our plans against them and just got to go out there, do what we have to do and the result will take care of itself.”
Reflecting on their most recent game, which saw them play to a rare tie, Boje admitted they came up short in some areas, but feels they are not too far away from winning.
“We were okay against the Lions,” he added. “Perhaps we lacked in one or two disciplines a little bit, but we’ve addressed that, we’ve worked on it and the guys are ready for tomorrow.”
For Warriors coach Rivash Gobind, they are now just about reaching breaking point after the hat-trick of defeats.
They are only just ahead of the Knights and another defeat will leave them bottom of the standings. “We started slowly in the previous competition as well, but we know it’s not where we should be,” he said. “We understand we haven’t played as well as we can, but we also know that with six games remaining, there is still an opportunity for us to finish strongly and get into those play-off places.
“Hopefully that process will start in Kimberley tomorrow.”
The Warriors showed incredible fight in the 20-over competition to win their last three games and squeeze into the play-offs. However, Gobind does not want his side to leave it that late this time.
“I guess you can take some confidence from that, the fighting spirit, but it’s not where we want to be as a team,” he explained. “We want to be playing on the front foot and be the team that’s dictating terms.
“Sport being what it is, we’ve just got to make sure we pick ourselves up now.”
Gobind still finds it hard to understand why the Knights have struggled thus far, adding: “They’ve got some dangerous players there in David Miller, Marchant de Lange and Ryan McLaren.
“With both teams in their current position, it makes for a exciting game.”
