Northern Cape Heat to kick off CSA 4-Day competition against Rhinos in Mpumalanga

THE NORTHERN Cape Heat are set to take on the Mpumalanga Rhinos this Thursday at Uplands College in White River, just north of the Eswatini border, in their CSA 4-Day Division 2 cricket clash. The first day’s play is set to start at 10am, weather permitting.

The hosts must be preparing for this game with a touch of trepidation for a number of factors. Firstly, the Heat finished top of division two in the 2023/24 season while the Rhinos finished at the bottom. And secondly, the Heat have won all three of the previous head-to-head fixtures.

With this being the first game of the competition, there is bound to be some excitement. This will especially be true for the visitors as they should be high on confidence having beaten their hosts in the recent CSA T20 Knock-Out competition in September.

For their part, the Rhinos will need to dig deep to produce a similar level of optimism; whether they can achieve this remains to be seen, especially since they finished last season dead last with only one victory in total!

But the Heat will know that they cannot just walk onto a cricket oval and be awarded the points. They will have to earn the win over four hard days. Focus and intensity will be crucial, especially since these Rhinos are somewhat different to last season’s herd.

They have assembled a new management team ahead of this season and new head coach Mbasa Gee, backed up by his assistant Gerhard Vosloo, will no doubt bring some fresh ideas and start the team off on a clean slate.

The Heat also have a new coaching set-up after Mark Charlton moved on following successive top-of-the-table finishes in the competition. However, they still have a very strong squad who will be brimming with confidence as they target a third Division 2 championship title on the trot.

The Heat bring quite a bit to this party. The Kimberley team’s opening batting pair of Ernest Kemm and Jason Oakes put on a partnership of 80 the last time they took on Mpumalanga, and don’t forget Grant Thomson who is deadly in the middle order.

The Northern Cape team have technically correct batters, capable of patiently building long innings against pace or spin, but also not lazy to open their shoulders if the odd loose ball is tossed up.

On the bowling front, the Rhinos will remember Johannes van Dyk who, when the sides last met, returned figures of 5/40 in the first innings and 5/30 in the second innings.

The Heat will, though, have to keep an eye on Jurie Snyman who defied the Heat attack last time out, scoring 131 in the first innings. The visitors will know that this will be the key to unlocking the Rhinos’ defences.

However, on top of all these factors, there’s the unpredictable weather to take into consideration. According to reports the temperatures may fluctuate quite a bit over the four days in White River.

The opening day should see a high of around 20 degrees, then it’s up to 24 on day two and even higher on day three, up to 30 degrees. However, day four will see temperatures back down to 22, and get this: there’s a slight possibility of rain on all of the days. So there will probably be a few rain interruptions.

Mpumalanga Rhinos (possible XI): Jurie Snyman (c), Muhammed Mayet, Yassar Cook, Nhlanhla Dlamini, ALexander Kok, Benjamin Niekerk (wk), Hermann Rolfes, Jon Hinrichsen, Gregory Mahlokwana, Kieran Kenny, Akhulile Mkatu

Northern Cape Heat (possible XI): Ernest Kemm, Jason Oakes, Christopher Britz, Grant Thomson, Juan Landsberg, Hanu Viljoen (wk), Romano Terblanche, Emmanuel Motswiri, Johannes van Dyk, Zakhele Qwabe, Jerome Xaba