Star allrounder JP Duminy won’t be fit to help the Cape Cobras as they hunt for a first win of the 1Day Cup at the Knights on Tuesday (1.30 pm).
The Proteas star has still not recovered from the shoulder injury that kept him out of their opening round loss to the Warriors.
Cobras coach Ashwell Prince says: “Duminy’s batting is looking as strong as ever but he feels uncertain about his bowling and his fielding. He prides himself in his throwing arm and his ability to throw himself around in the field.
“He wants to make sure he can field as good as ever, and bowl.”
Prince reckons that for the Cobras to open their win account in the competition, they will have to build bigger batting partnerships.
In their loss to the Warriors, Pieter Malan, Zubayr Hamza and company posted 276, a score the opposition reached with just one ball to spare.
And the boss believes they would have brought home the bacon if they had taken advantage of their batting stands and defended the boundary better.
He says: “We had a couple of 50-, 60- and 70-run partnerships which could have been converted into something more substantial.
“When you play in a four-day match, much of the fielding is about the ability of the wicketkeeper and two of three slips to be accurate, but in a one-day game there is more movement on the boundary and ability to get to the ball, which needs to be secure.”
Fast bowler Mthiwekhaya Nabe and batsman Simon Khomari have also been ruled out of the trip to Bloem.