Heat refocus for Highveld clash with Stars
Updated | By Nick Tatham/Gameplan Media
The Durban Heat will be looking to erase Wednesday night’s disappointing loss to the Paarl Rocks when they travel to the Bidvest Wanderers to take on the Jozi Stars in their next Mzansi Super League fixture on Friday evening.
The Heat were unable to answer the questions that the Paarl Rocks posed with the ball and despite the game being reduced to a nine overs a side slog-fest they couldn’t chase down the substantial 113 they needed to win.
Wednesday’s loss has meant that the Heat have got themselves into a situation where a win on Friday is going to be crucial to their chances in the competition.
Wednesday’s bowling display aside, the Heat bowlers have been able to keep them in games. It has been the batting element that has let them down thus far in the tournament and captain Albie Morkel knows that his team have the ability to turn their fortunes around.
“We have some really experienced first class cricketers in our squad and they know that individually they need step up,” he said.
“No coach can do it for them. They have to find that magic moment themselves. It might be a nick through the slips or one good shot through the covers for a guy like Hashim (Amla) to be back to full form.
“That’s how quickly the change can happen.”
Heading into the must-win clash with the Stars on Friday, the play-off equation for Morkel and his team has become fairly clear.
“We now know that we probably have to win five of our next six games to have a chance to make the play-offs.
“That’s fine for us and we look forward to taking on that challenge and I still have full confidence in the squad that we can do that,” Morkel added.
The Heat top order has battled to get the team off to the starts that they would have liked which gives the likes of David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen and Morkel the chance to cash in from the early momentum.
Morkel has stressed the importance of the next week and a half which sees the Heat play five games between Friday, 30 November and Sunday, 9 December.
“Ten games can go pretty quickly and I would like us to get on a bit of a roll now,” he emphasised.
“If we can win three or four and get into the play-offs then anything can happen but we know that we need to make a move now and the next week is going to be very important for us.”
The Heat and the Jozi Star square up for their first meeting of the 2018 Mzansi Super League at the Bidvest Wanderers starting at 7pm on Friday.
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