Lance Klusener, easily one of the finest all-rounders the game has seen, continues his relationship with Abu Dhabi T10 as a head coach. Having previously worked with Bangla Tigers, Klusener was roped in by Morrisville Samp Army ahead of the sixth season.
Under his stewardship, the newcomers of the tournament are off to a terrific start, winning two games on the trot to kickstart their maiden campaign.
After successfully defending a 101 in the first game against Bangla Tigers, Morrisville registered another convincing win on Sunday against Delhi Bulls, winning by eight wickets and 14 balls to spare.
“It’s a long tournament and it is always good to begin with a win. Hopefully we can get on a bit of a roll and get some wins,” Klusener said in an exclusive chat after the side’s first match of the season.
The Morrisville Samp Army possess a terrific bowling attack, which includes two left-arm seamers in Sheldon Cottrell and George Garton, alongside the fiery Proteas pacers Anrich Nortje and Dwaine Pretorius.
Anrich Nortje, who picked up 11 wickets at an economy of just 5.37 at the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, is off to a brilliant start with Morrisville. He conceded 26 runs in four overs thus far in the tournament at a sensational economy of 6.50.
The likes of Dwaine Pretorious (four wickets in two matches) and Cottrell (three wickets in two matches) are off to brilliant starts as well in this edition.
Klusener feels that the depth in Morrisville Samp Army’s bowling attack is helping them use Nortje’s talents to the maximum.
“Nortje’s two overs are valuable. The nice thing is we’ve got two left-arm fast bowlers (Garton and Cottrell) who swing the ball as well which allows us to use Nortje at a different time (rather than the powerplay) and use his overs at the end,” Klusener said. “We possibly have the best bowling attack in the tournament. It’s always nice to have him and I’m glad he had a good outing the other night (against the Tigers),” the South African legend explained.
Morrisville Samp Army will face The Chennai Braves next on Sunday, followed by two games against New York Strikers and Team Abu Dhabi in the next two days.
The head coach, however, wants to focus on the schedule one game at a time.
“We are not looking too far ahead, we have three games in the next three days which will decide if we go further into the competition. As of now, we are not looking much further than the next three days,” Klusener added.