WESTERN Warriors and Caledonian Highlanders will lock horns again at Titwood today (Thur) – just six days after the pair served up a Super Over thriller.
That match went in favour of the visitors as first Scott Cameron held his nerve to restrict the Warriors to ten runs before skipper Michael Leask hit the winning blows.
For Colin Mitchell, the Warriors team manager, the return encounter is not so much an exercise in again proving his understrength side can demonstrate their competitive spirit but that they can develop a winning mentality.
Certainly, despite ultimate disappointment last Friday evening, there was plenty to give the Warriors hope for the remainder of the campaign.
Mitchell said: “A loss is a loss whether or not it’s via a Super Over but there were two pivotal periods in the game that give us real encouragement.
“The first was that we got them from 174-4 to 180 all out when it could easily have been a 220 total.
“Then we got ourselves out of a hole at 90-6 to tie the scores and these fightbacks clearly demonstrate the spirit we have in the group. Again, without that spirit, we could have been 110 all out.
“Now we have to look for even more from the players. We need to maintain that competitive edge but we’re also looking for two or three individuals to put their hands up and take the responsibility to be the ones that get us over the line and convert that tie into a win.”
The Warriors, who complete their second double header in a week by travelling to the capital on Friday evening to face the Eastern Knights, are again without arguably their most illustrious and influential players with Richie Berrington, Matthew Cross and Calum MacLeod at the GlobalT20 in Canada and Gavin Main still not fully fit.
Cally meanwhile will head south in confident mood after holding their nerve in last week’s dramatic shootout.
Despite the continued absence of Kyle Coetzer and Safyaan Sharif – also at the Global T20 – the Highlanders will back themselves to complete the double over their hosts.
Such an outcome would see Leask’s men go two points clear at the top of the table and pile the pressure on the Knights before they go into action again on Friday evening.
