Paarl Royals are hoping to make Boland Park “a fortress” as they get ready to host Pretoria Capitals in their first match of Betway Season 2 in the winelands on Friday evening.
The Royals supporters have pledged their allegiance early on, with Boland Park set to be filled to capacity after all online tickets were sold out earlier this week. Tickets are still available to purchase at the stadium ticket office.
Royals’ star opening batter, Jos Buttler, is happy to be back at Boland Park, where the temperatures have been soaring into the mid-30s.
“I am really excited. I enjoyed the competition last year, it was a great tournament. England is minus-1 at the moment. I love being out here, we have settled in really well,” Buttler said.
“We want to make our home ground a fortress. It was great to see so many people in the ground. It should be a tough place to come for visiting teams. Hopefully, we can get off the mark tomorrow (Friday).”
The England white-ball captain has needed to absorb plenty of international pressure the past few months, but he is hoping to release the valve during Season 2 of the league.
“My main aim is to come out here and enjoy myself. We had a tough World Cup with England, which was a bit draining and really not that enjoyable, so I just want to enjoy my cricket and everything the country has to offer. South Africa is a fantastic country,” he said.
“We’ve had some good preparation with a couple of games against the Netherlands. We also have some familiar faces from last year. We got to know each other really well and are looking forward to an exciting tournament.”
Buttler was the leading run-scorer in Season 1 with 391 runs, but could face stiff opposition from his England opening partner Phil Salt, who will line up for the Capitals at Boland Park on Friday.
“He (Salt) is a positive player and obviously has been in some great form for England in the Caribbean. I know he and Will Jacks had a really strong partnership in the tournament last year.
“You have to find a way to contain these guys and take their wickets, and get them out before they cause too much damage,” Buttler said.
The Capitals, meanwhile, were the form team during the league phase of the inaugural season, with Wayne Parnell’s team topping the table. Unfortunately, the Capitals fell short at the final hurdle against the Sunrisers Eastern Cape at the Wanderers in a sold-out Final.
The Capitals feel they simply need to fine-tune minor things in order to get their Season 2 campaign up and running again.
“The vibe in the camp has been fantastic. We are building on something that was really good. We have a lot of familiar faces,” said top-order batter Colin Ingram.
“The preparation has gone really well. We’ve spent a couple of days up in Pretoria. We had a good practise game too.”
Ingram made a late appearance in Season 1 when he was called up to replace the in-form Will Jacks, who had to leave for England test duty midway through the Season.
The veteran left-hander is excited to be back playing cricket in South Africa after spending the best part of the last decade on the global T20 franchise circuit.
“I am looking forward to getting around to all the stadiums around the country again. It’s been a while since I’ve played a full season in South Africa. It will be great to see the fans again after the couple of games I played last season,” he said.
Squads for Boland Park
PAARL ROYALS: David Miller (captain), Ferisco Adams, Fabian Allen, Jos Buttler, Keith Dudgeon, Bjorn Fortuin, Evan Jones, Wihan Lubbe, Obed McCoy, Lungi Ngidi, Nqaba Peter, Andile Phehlukwayo, Jason Roy, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lorcan Tucker, John Turner, Mitchell van Buuren, Dane Vilas, Codi Yusuf.
PRETORIA CAPITALS: Wayne Parnell (captain), Matthew Boast, Corbin Bosch, Eathan Bosch, Shane Dadswell, Theunis de Bruyn, Daryn Dupavillon, Colin Ingram, Will Jacks, Senuran Muthusamy, Jimmy Neesham, Migael Pretorius, Adil Rashid, Rilee Rossouw, Phil Salt, Paul Stirling, Tiaan van Vuuren, Kyle Verreynne, Hardus Viljoen.