The Nelson Mandela Bay Giants know that to have a real chance of snatching the last remaining Mzansi Super League playoff berth they will most likely have to beat the Rocks in Paarl on Wednesday.
There is a possibility they could go through without victory in their final round-robin match, but that would be leaving way too much to chance.
Giants captain Jon-Jon Smuts wants to get the job done in Paarl this week.
“I obviously don’t know all the calculations in terms of how things work out,” he said.
“I’m pretty sure if we win on Wednesday we have a spot secured. Who knows, it could even be secured beforehand if the Tshwane team doesn’t get through at the Wanderers.”
The permutations can get complicated, but in attempt to simplify it, the Giants will be hoping they can beat the Rocks and the Spartans do not get any bonus points in their last two matches against the Jozi Stars and Durban Heat.
“Anything is possible. I said earlier all the teams are strong teams and I’m pretty sure there still going to be some upsets,” Smut said.
Indeed, anything is possible, and there could be a situation where the Rocks, Giants and Spartans all end on 21 points.
The Giants were off the pace for a second consecutive home game on Saturday when they lost to the Spartans by 28 runs at St George’s Park.
“Again we just didn’t click,” Smuts said. “We lost too many wickets up front and back of the powerplay and probably gave away 15 runs too many with the ball.
“It’s for us to reassess and, you know, we haven’t come close to playing our perfect game yet. But if we can get close to that in our next game and take momentum into the playoffs, it would be great.”
Meanwhile, Warriors opener Gihahn Cloete was man of the match for the Spartans against the Giants with his 65.
“It was nice getting man of the match here at our home ground,” the lefthander said.
“But it is also good for our team to take this momentum into the next couple of games. It’s a must-win game for us.” Remaining pool games: Tuesday: Jozi Stars v Tshwane Spartans Wednesday: Paarl Rocks v Nelson Mandela Bay Giants; Tshwane Spartans v Durban Heat