The Western Province Cricket Association fixtures finally gets underway this Saturday after last week’s matches were rescheduled.
Several venues were unprepared due to the heavy rains experienced.
Current Premier League champions Claremont will open their campaign when they travel to Kraaifontein.
They have a familiar look about their lineup and should be challenging again strongly for honours this year. Josh Breed, the captain and leading allrounder in the league again, says: “We are ready to go and we have prepared well. Our batting line up spearheaded by our leading run maker Matthew de Villiers has been boosted by newcomer Valentine Kitime, a former SA under 19 player who made his debut for WP last week in CSA one day competition. Our attack is very much the same with long serving Marvin Williams and Kyle Pluke likely to share the new ball.”
Stalwart change bowler Gavin Dickenson and Breed with his “offies’ provide the variation in the attack.
The Kraaie who battled in their first season in the Premier Division last season will be hoping that Darryl Losper and seasoned campaigner Dale Campbell will be among the runs and provide solidity to the batting order.
Their bowling attack will rely heavily on the experienced medium pacer Craig Ephraim supported by Arno Pekeur and Chezlyn Cloete to keep the strong Claremont batting card in check.
Newly-promoted Primrose also travel up the N1 to tackle Bellville.
The Roses have a few newcomers in their side the most notable being Juan James another SA under 19 player.
Abdullah Bayoumi a former SA schools player is another newcomer that should bolster the bowling attack.
For Bellville batters Quinn van Oordt, Courtney Adams and allrounder Marcus Fourie could be the key performers.
The Bellville wicket is batting friendly so a high scoring game is anticipated.
Durbanville perennial challengers have the same squad available as last year should severely test the home side when they travel to Rylands. The Rylands batters will have to be at the top of their game to withstand the Durbies three pronged pace attack of Jody Lawrence, Nathan Swartz and Taswin Lukas.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
Premier League Division: Bellville v Primrose, Rondebosch v Cape Town Cricket Club, Kraaifontein v Claremont, Rylands v Durbanville, Milnerton v Green Point Cricket Club, WPCC v UWC.
First Division A: Avendale v Vikings, Strandfontein v Brackenfell, Gugulethu v Tygerberg, Hands and Hearts v Ottomans, UCT v Northerns Goodwood