Stags Face a Must-win Situation Against Warriors

Port Elizabeth: The Central Stags face a do or die battle against the Warriors, who are on a roll after having won both their games.

Central Stags in their opening game, they had Chennai Super Kings in trouble at 40 for 3 in the ninth over, but lost the advantage on a Durban pitch that assisted the bowlers. In their second game, they had Victoria needing 66 from 39 balls after David Hussey departed, but were blown away by Aaron Finch. This after Central Districts captain Jamie How had inspired his side from 3 for 2 to 165 for 5.

Inconsistency has been the problem for the Stags. After a relatively good performance with the ball at Durban against Chennai, their batting let them down. In Centurion, the batting prospered against Victoria but the bowling let them down towards the end. However, the performance against the Australian T20 champs has shown everybody that they are not a team to be taken lightly.

On other-hand, contrast this with Warriors who were in a similar situation in their last game, also against Victoria. Hussey had been dismissed with 65 needed from 36 balls. Rusty Theron then snuffed out three wickets in the space of eight deliveries as Warriors sealed the match ruthlessly.

Ashwell Prince and Colin Ingram have not fired so far in the tournament. The only other bright spot in the Warriors batting line-up has been Mark Boucher and Justin Kreusch. Boucher was in awesome form against both Wayamba and Victoria as he smashed 40 and 31.

Peter Ingram twin failures have only increased the pressure on his opening partner How, and there can be no better time than this do-or-die clash for an Ingram knock that would make his idol, Virender Sehwag, proud.

Ashwell Prince has done marginally better than Ingram, but he looked scratchy against Victoria and was involved in the run-out of the blazing Jacobs. While Prince is not known to blaze away, a Twenty20 strike-rate of 106.80 from 22 innings does not do justice to a player of his class.

Warriors are clearly the favourites to win the game, considering their good run in the tournament and would look to go all-guns blazing against the Stags as a win would ensure them a semi-finals berth.

Team from

Central Stags: Jamie How (capt), Peter Ingram, Tim Weston (wk), Mathew Sinclair, George Worker, Brendon Diamanti, Kieran Noema-Barnett, Brad Patton, Doug Bracewell, Seth Rance, Michael Mason, Adam Milne, Ben Wheeler, Bevan Griggs, Mitchell McClenaghan

Chevrolet Warriors: Davey Jacobs (capt), Ashwell Prince, Colin Ingram, Mark Boucher (wk), Justin Kreusch, Johan Botha, Craig Thyssen, Nicky Boje, Juan Theron, Makhaya Ntini, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Arno Jacobs, Garnett Kruger, JJ Smuts, Lyall Meyer

Stats and trivia

• Johan Botha has taken the most wickets, 54, among the 13 bowlers who have economy rates of under six runs an over in T20s.
• Mark Boucher, who holds the Test record for most dismissals by a wicketkeeper, stands joint-tenth on the list for T20s with 47 dismissals.

Match facts
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Start time 13:30 local (11:30 GMT)