Persistent rain prevented play on day one of the CSA 4-Day Series match between World Sports Betting Western Province and the Knights. The encounter was set to begin on Friday morning, however, incessant rain blocked the start.
The two teams will have an early start on Saturday morning, with play set to begin at 9:30 am.
Western Province's season has gotten worse as they went along. They won their season opener, drew their second match and lost to the Lions in their most recent encounter.
Their victory over the Dolphins was built on an outstanding bowling performance from Kyle Simmonds, who bagged nine wickets in the encounter. His five-wicket haul in the Dolphins' first innings put Western Province on the front foot.
Eddie Moore has a century and Simmonds, Jono Bird and Daniel Smith have scored half-centuries this season, however, their most consistent batter has been George Linde. The allrounder is Western Province's leading run-scorer with 379 runs. He is the fourth-highest run-scorer in the league. Linde has one ton and two half-centuries to his name. He has also bagged four wickets to his name.
The hosts might be without Linde, who was called up to the Proteas T20 team. Salieg Nackerdien will hope that the rest of his players will put their hands up and fill the void left by the allrounder if he is unavailable. Western Province needs to win against the Knights for them to move from seventh place.
Like Western Province, the Knights' season has progressively gotten worse. They won their first game, chalked a draw in the second and lost the next two. Aaron Phangiso was their hero in the first match with a half-century and six wickets against Boland.
However, their best batter this season has been Lesego Senokwane with two centuries, one of them a double hundred, and a 50. The Knights might be without Senokwane, who was called up to the SA Invitational side picked to face the England Lions from the 10th to the 13th of December.
They do have a handful of other batters who have milestones to their names. Dian Forrester, Patrick Botha and Jacques Snyman have scored half-centuries this season. One each for Forrester and Botha, and two for Snyman, who only featured in one match.