South Africa’s domestic cricket season starts this weekend with the CSA T20 Challenge beginning on Friday in Johannesburg. The defending champions, the Lions, will take on the Titans.

The Bloemfontein-based Knights will be in action on Saturday when they host the North West Dragons at the Mangaung Oval. New Knights captain Dane Piedt said they have worked hard in the off-season. 

“I know the guys have been working hard upskilling themselves knowing that the first division will bring challenges. But we have full confidence in the team and the combinations we’ve been working through.” Piedt said the squad was also happy with their pre-season training. 

“We had a pretty good pre-season trip to Durban where all the batters showed good form. It’s now just about knuckling down and getting the best combination for the opening game against the Dragons.”

‘First division will bring new challenges’

The Knights played in the second division in the last CSA T20 Challenge and Piedt said the first division will bring new challenges, which they are excited to tackle.

“It is a tough schedule with seven games, which is going to be a bit of a challenge. But we’re just going to try and hit the ground running. We won’t lose any of our players to the Proteas, like some of the other teams. So yeah, we are going to start well – take it ball by ball and game by game.”

Saturday’s match at the Mangaung Oval will start at 14:00 and gates open at 12:00.

OFM Sport/Ilse Smalberger dg