Paarl Royals Brings Heat To MI Cape Town In Betway SA20 Cape Derby

Paarl : The mercury levels are rising in the Western Cape and the Paarl Royals want to heat it up even further when they meet neighbours MI Cape Town in the first derby of Betway SA20 Season 4 at Boland Park on Friday night. 

Temperatures are set to soar in excess of 31 degrees Celsius in the Winelands when the two rivals battle it out for Western Cape supremacy.

Paarl Royals captain David Miller, fresh from leading his team to a brilliant five-wicket victory over Sunrisers Eastern Cape at St George’s Park, is certainly looking forward to the derby. 

“I don't think it gets bigger than that (facing MI Cape Town in the Cape derby),” Miller said. “I mean, I suppose every game here is huge. In the SA20, there's no room to make a mistake.

“But obviously back here, it's a good derby. So, we've got the 2nd and the 4th against them, and hopefully we give them a good one.”

Miller was in excellent form against the Sunrisers, striking an unbeaten 71, which allowed the Royals to bounce back from demoralising opening defeat at Boland Park. 

The skipper feels that it was important for the senior players within the Royals set up to lead the “bouncebackability”. 

“There are moments throughout the competition, you really do need your senior players to stand up and just lead from the front in that department. So, it was nice from our side to do well, I was really chuffed with that,” he said.

There were a couple of Royals youngsters such Rookie seamer Nqobani Mokoena (4/34) and Rising Star Keagan Lion-Cachet (45) that also fed off the seniors’ experience, and Miller feels this only bodes well for the remainder of the competition. 

“He's (Mokoena) has express, raw pace. He still has a lot to learn. But I love the way that he goes about it. He really is into the battle and he backs himself, which is a big character trait to have. 

“And then working together with Keagan was just really cool. I really enjoyed the way he went about it. It's his first game for the Paarl Royals and under a lot of pressure. The team was under a lot of pressure.” 

Meanwhile, MI Cape Town coach Robin Peterson has called on his players to be a lot more clinical as the defending champions go hunting their first win of the competition to get their campaign back on track.

“We've just got to sharpen up more mentally and up our execution rate in all facets,” Peterson said. 

“We've all got to look at ourselves at the end of the day. That's what you do when you're a team. I think it's not only pointing fingers at one department.

“I think we've all got to look at each other within the group and see how we can turn it around quickly. We've only played two games. We still have another seven left. 

“We've shown that the guys in the dressing room have won this competition before and have experienced pain. It's just a different journey this year.” 

Catch all action today, January 02 of Paarl Royals vs MI Cape Town at 9:00 PM, LIVE on JioHotstar and Star Sports Network