Cape Town Blitz coach Ashwell Prince is pleased with his team’s overall performance in their two warm-up games against Paarl Rocks ahead of the start of the inaugural Mzansi Super League.
Despite not getting positive results in both matches - losing by seven wickets and 10 runs respectively - Prince is happy with the standout individual performances of his young squad.
Marquee player Dawid Malan scored 85 in the opening match at Newlands while Janneman Malan (38), Jason Smith (50) and Kyle Verreynne (50) came good with the bat in the second encounter at Boland Park.
And Prince says: “Obviously people are going to say that we lost both games. But from our point of view, the result of these two matches didn’t matter from the outset.
“It was more about the guys using the week to get into the right mindset for [tomorrow's MSL opener against the Spartans].
“We now have more people getting closer to form before that first game and that’s what it is really about.
“We want to hit the tournament with most of the team close to their best.
“Obviously, there are still a few guys to come in but it’s shaping up nicely.
“They [the younger players] don’t have a lot of experience in this format of the game and there are still six guys to come into the squad.
“So for them, they have to try to stake a claim to get a place [in the starting XI] when everyone is here.”