I have to fight my way back, says Ontong
COACH Richard Pybus has got a bit of a selection conundrum staring him in the face ahead of the Cape Cobras’ three remaining fixtures in the Twenty20 Challenge competition.
Star batsmen Justin Ontong, who returned from the Proteas’ tour of New Zealand with an ankle injury, is set to be fit for Friday’s important clash against the Warriors at Newlands. But who is he going to replace is the question on everybody’s lips.
A few weeks ago, the Paarl Gym prodigy would in all likelihood have replaced Alistair Gray. But with 11 wickets in the competition at an average of 15, the player they call the “lab rat” is doing an outstanding job with the ball for the team.
The other option would have been to drop Stiaan van Zyl and move Herschelle Gibbs up the order. The problem is, though, Van Zyl is in the form of his life, having scored 393 runs at just under 50 with a phenomenal strike-rate of 153 runs per 100 balls in the competition so far.
Gibbs hasn’t set the world alight since returning from the Bangladesh Premier League. But while nobody is indispensable, he is, after all, Herschelle Gibbs, and something special is probably just around the corner.
Ontong had net sessions on Monday and yesterday, and, according to him, his ankle is “about 85 percent”.
The Proteas batsman, who hit four sixes in succession in South Africa’s first Twenty20 international against New Zealand, has been in great form this season, and a consistent performer in all forms of the game for the Cape side.
And his call-up to the national team for the limitedovers matches was just reward, as he also played a key role in the Cobras annexing the 1-Day Cup this season. But Ontong is well aware that he isn’t just going to walk into the team for the match against their opponents from the Eastern Cape.
“It would be nice to be in the mix, but the guys have played good cricket and I will have to fight my way back into the team. It’s going to up to the coach to decide if I’m going to be in the team or not,” Ontong told the Cape Times yesterday.
“The team won two games in a row and we have momentum heading into Friday night’s match against the Warriors.”
Ontong said he enjoyed being back in the green and gold of the Proteas after a period on the sidelines, and he particularly enjoyed the four sixes he hit off Kane Williamson, beating his previous best of three sixes in a row in a T20 match for his former franchise, the Lions.
“I just wanted to do what was asked of me,” Ontong said. “To be fair, the fields are quite small over there, because we play on rugby fields and not proper cricket fields. But I must say, I really enjoyed it!”
T20 CHALLENGE FIXTURES Today: Dolphins v Knights (Durban), Lions v Warriors (Johannesburg), Impi v Titans (Benoni). Friday: Cape Cobras v Warriors (Cape Town), Knights v Impi (Kimberley), Lions v Dolphins (Johannesburg). Sunday: Titans v Cape Cobras, Knights v Warriors (Kimberley).