The excitement is mounting ahead of the start of the domestic cricket season. The season starts on Saturday with a Division 2 T20 Knockout clash when the Northern Cape Heat and Eastern Storm go head-to-head in Kimberley.

In Division 1, the wait is a little longer with the action getting underway next week in the T20 Challenge. The opening match of the season will see the defending T20 champions, the Lions, hosting the Titans at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Friday, 27 September, in what is also a Juksei derby.

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The following day, the Potchefstroom-based North West Dragons will be traveling to Bloemfontein first up where they will take on the ITEC Knights. The Knights were promoted back to the top flight after finishing as the best team in Division 2 during the 2023/24 season.

The Dragons captain and Proteas batter, Wihan Lubbe, told OFM Sport that they are raring to go that their has been allotted hard work during the preseason and they’re at a point when they just want to get going. “It’s exactly like you say – we’re kind of getting to that point where we’d prefer to start now,” said Lubbe. “It’s been an awesome build-up and there have been some really good things happening during the past few weeks of the preseason.

“We’re really excited to get the ball rolling, as most teams should be. There’s a lot of excitement in the camps this team of the year, and we all believe that we’re in for a shot. That’s what’s exciting.”

The match will be played next week Saturday at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein. Play is scheduled to start at 14:00.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek mvh