The North West Dragons will want to build on their performance in the CSA T20 Challenge as they turn their attention to red-ball cricket. The CSA 4-Day Series gets underway this week with the Dolphins hosting Western Province on Wednesday at Kingsmead in Durban in the opening game of the competition.

The team from Potchefstroom will hit the road in round one as they travel to Gqeberha to face the ever-dangerous Warriors.

The Dragons were the form team for most of the T20 Challenge but fell short when it mattered most when they suffered a 41-run defeat to Western Province in the Eliminator last week.

Raynard van Tonder. Photo: Dragons

The Dragons have proven that they are a very strong unit themselves and they will want to make a seamless switch to unlimited overs cricket.

The Dragons coach, Craig Alexander, told OFM Sport that they look forward to switching formats and the mood in the changeroom remains upbeat, despite stumbling towards the backend of the T20 competition.

“I think after the T20 competition, I really think the boys fought well until the end, even though we lost our last few games,” said the former Dolphins seamer.

“I do feel that there’s still a lot of work to do in our T20 competition. But ending up third really speaks volumes of what we have in the changing room. So, if I just look back at the past three years and ending up in seventh and last year sixth, and this year ending up third, I think we’re definitely going in that direction.

“I’m very happy with the boys’ performance, even though I feel we can still be better in some areas, but I’m really happy with where we’re going.

“Then shifting over to the four-day competition, like you mentioned, going to PE, it’s going to be a tough one, you know, playing all the teams at home will be a test for us. I do feel they have a good side, but I think I’m really happy with the team I’ve got.

Gideon Peters, Wihan Lubbe, and Rubin Hermann. Photo: Dragons

“We’ve got all bases covered and going to PE, I’m really excited to see what we have in store and also what we are about in the four-day competition. It’s something we pride ourselves on at the beginning of the season, and we really hope that with all the hard work done in the winter, we can go out there and display the good brand of cricket that we discussed and planned for.

“So, really excited, we’ve got all the bases covered, and now we’re looking forward to the competition ahead of us.”

The round one match between the Warriors and Dragons at St George’s Park is scheduled to start at 10:00 on Thursday morning.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cg