The ITEC Knights are back in action on Saturday when they face the Garden Route Badgers in Bloemfontein in their first game of the CSA T20 Challenge.

Division 2 of the T20 Challenge started on Wednesday with the Badgers losing by four wickets to the Northern Cape Heat in Kimberley, while the Knights had a bye.

The Knights will target a fast and strong start to the competition as it will have implications regarding promotion to back up to Division 1.

The Knights are still in the pound seats to earn promotion to the top-flight of domestic cricket, however, it’s not a given as the Northern Cape Heat are still in the hunt.

The Knights will assure themselves of moving up if they win the T20 Challenge, after reaching the respective finals of the One-Day Cup as well as the 4-Day series this season.

The Knights white-ball captain, Aubrey Swanepoel, told OFM Sport that it’s a matter of just sticking to their processes and playing each ball on its merit.

“The guys will just have to remain calm as we've seen over the years that T20 cricket is any team's game,” said Swanepoel.

“We've got to make sure that we've got clean plans and goals as we go into the first game on Saturday.

“We're guys calling on the people from Bloemfontein to come and support us and help us get back to Division 1.”

Play at the Mangaung Oval gets underway at 13:00, while on Sunday the Limpopo Impalas will face the Heat in Polokwane.

Knights squad - Aubrey Swanepoel, Patrick Botha, Clayton Bosch, Gihahn Cloete, Ruan Cronjé, Isaac Dikgale, Dian Forrester, Sithembile Langa, Monde Maqunqu, Nipho Mpungose, Matthew Pollard, Dane Piedt, Jacques Snyman, Garnett Tarr, Tiaan van Vuuren

Morgan Piek OFM Sport