The ITEC Knights will get a small taste of Test cricket from Saturday when they face the Northern Cape Heat in Kimberley in the Division 2 final of the CSA 4-Day series.

The final will be played over five-day as opposed to the rest of the competition as the name suggests, four days.

This is in order to ensure that a winner will be crowned come next week Wednesday.

The Knights coach, JP Triegaardt, told OFM Sport that they are all excited to play in the final.

The Heat will be more confident after coming back strongly in the competition following a slow start.

By contrast, the Knights started like a house on fire and towards the backend of the tournament it became a bit of a scramble. 

Hadn’t they beaten the Garden Route Badgers by nine-wickets in their last game, they would probably not have qualified. This would have all put a serious dent in their ambition to earn promotion back up to Division 1 next season.

“It's massive for the team and for the province to play in a four-day final, although it will be played over five-days.

“I'm pretty much chuffed and happy for the guys to be honest. It wasn't easy, but we are here now.

“Now it's just a matter of getting over the line and giving it our all.

“Hats off to all the players for buying into the plan and trying to achieve the goals set out for this competition.”

During round two of the tournament the Knights beat the Heat by 361-runs.

Play at the Diamond Oval is scheduled to start at 10:00 on Saturday morning.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport