Northern Cape vs Eastern Storm, csa-knockout-2024, Today Match Prediction 21 September 2024

NCAPE vs ES Match Prediction & Analysis

The CSA Knock Out competition gets underway in Kimberley with Northern Cape Heat taking on Eastern Storm. Having finished runners-up of the CSA Provincial T20 Cup in April, Northern Cape will come into this tournament seeking to go one step further. They fell at the last hurdle in their campaign early this year but will be hoping to go all the way in this Knock Out Challenge. A strong performance to open their campaign will get Northern Cape moving in that direction. But they’ll be wary of the team facing them- Easterns. When the teams met at the Willowmoore Park, Benoni in March earlier this year, Eastern Storm emerged winners with a whopping 57 run win. Northern Cape will be thinking payback, while Storm will be hoping to claim another upset win with another strong showing with both bat and ball.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Northern Cape Preview

Having come agonizingly close to title triumph in the previous tournament, Northern Cape will look to enter this competition with renewed vigour and a real sense of purpose. The batting group’s collective failure to post a huge total on board cost them dearly in the finals.

And the batsmen will be hoping to play with better intent to be able to put their team in a strong position. With 233 runs from 6 games, Ernest Kemm was the leading run scorer for Northern Cape last season and he played an instrumental role in taking the side through to the finals along with Jonathan Vandiar and Modiri Litheko at the top of the order.

Grant Thomson (189 runs from 7 games last season) is another key figure and will have his role cut out, holding the innings together in the middle order and help set the stage for the lower order to come in and go berserk at the death. Johannes van Dyk and Tshepo Ntuli, who picked up 22 wickets between them, form a potent pace-spin combo and will be eager to get amongst the wickets.

Northern Cape Predicted Playing XI:

Ernest Kemm, Jonathan Vandiar, Christoffel Klijnhans, Grant Thomson(c), Hanu Viljoen(w), Romano Terblanche, Tshepo Ntuli, Basheeru-Deen Walters, Benjamin Van Rensburg, Zakhele Qwabe, Modiri Litheko.

Eastern Storm Preview

In stark contrast to Northern Cape’s success, Eastern has struggled to find their rhythm. Yes, they showed us flashes of what they could achieve, but being able to maintain a consistent level of performance requires a lot of things to go your way. But Eastern hasn’t had an awful lot going for them.

However, one of the high points of their last competition was their victory over Northern Cape in Benoni. And that could serve as a dose of inspiration for their players coming into this tournament. Opener Kabelo Sekhukhune and middle order batsmen Aron Visser headlined their win with useful contributions at different phases of their batting innings.

Shaylen Pillay and Divan Posthumus also chipped in with handy knocks. Sekhukhune’s consistency earned him a spot in the top six batsmen of the tournament in which he chalked up over 200 runs acting as a pillar of for their otherwise vulnerable batting group. Shane Dadswell came in at a distant second, with 134 runs off 6 games.

Posthumus also showed his wares with the ball, alongside Thula Ngcobo who took 7 scalps from 5 games to finish as the leading wicket taker for the side.

Eastern Storm Predicted Playing XI:

Andrew Rasemene, Aron Visser, Dewan Marais(w), Divan Posthumus, Kabelo Sekhukhune, Juan Lubbe, Shane Dadswell(c), Nhlanhla Mashigo, Mark Pearse, Thula Ngcobo, Tumelo Simelane.

Weather Conditions

Runs have generally proven hard to come by here on this surface, where teams defend well with just a 160-ish total on board. Fast bowlers that can rip the ball through and extract bounce off the pitch can take full advantage of the conditions here to dominate batsmen. The forecast for the match looks positive and we’re likely to get a complete match without any disruption due to weather.

NCAPE vs ES Pitch Report

The match will be played at the Diamond Oval in Kimberley. These two teams have never played each other here and it should be a cracking contest.

Toss: To Bowl

Toss isn’t going to make much difference here at this ground, where Northern Cape this year won a game setting a total and tasted success in another chasing one. If the pitch dished out is hard to read, the captain losing the toss would feel no pressure and be happy to leave it to his counterpart to decide.