“We’ll take it on the chin and come back next year”: Robbie Peterson

Amidst a somber mood in the dressing room as MI Cape Town couldn’t make it to the Playoffs following the seven-wicket defeat to Sunrisers Eastern Cape, Head Coach Robbie Peterson, was at the post-match press conference analyzing the season and looking at some positives for us to take out. Excerpts.. 

On this year’s SA20 campaign 

We lacked fluidity and consistency throughout the competition, initially with the ball and then with the bat later on. We never managed to get on a roll and piece together. A disappointing season. A lot for us to reflect on, do a little bit of soul searching. After the high of last year, we got humbled this year. We’ve got to take it on the chin and come back next year. 

On sticking with the core from Season 3

I think the temptation is to always go with the same players. You want to reward them and show some faith in them for the way they performed a year ago. We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and reflect and see where we can come back better as a squad. We need to see what we can tinker with. This is the first cycle of an Auction. It happened in the first season where we had to tinker and finally get to the formula. And it looks like we might have to do it again going forward. 

Thoughts on bowling Reeza Hendricks 

We saw the pitch was quite slow. We saw Quinny (Quinton de Kock) struggle with off-spin. Reeza was always a part of the plan to bowl at some stage of the competition. We saw last year that he got handy breakthroughs for us. We like to throw it to him a little bit here and there. Reeza bowls for his domestic team. I beg to differ that it cost us the game. Reeza has bowled for a long time for this team. 

On missing Rashid Khan and Dane Piedt coming into the team

You’re always going to miss our captain. We lost him two games ago. Dane Piedt has been terrific with his bowling. Yes, we did miss Rash (Rashid) but we gained a capable one in Dane, who showed what he can do when he gets an opportunity. 

On the positives to take for MICT out of the tournament 

There are a lot of young players in this squad. They have shown how much they have matured and learnt to prepare for games. There is a lot of exuberance of youth in the background. But yeah, the positives, Ryan Rickelton got runs in the tournament. Reeza ended the tournament exceptionally well. Rassie was also one of the top run-scorers. We just couldn’t get it all tied up together. And once we got onto the back foot, it was very tough to get momentum. 

On his learnings as a coach 

A lot of learning. You never know it all as a coach. If you know it all, you probably shouldn’t be coaching. A lot of learnings, a lot of improvements. It’s not like only the players can learn. Even I took a lot of learnings out of this competition certainly.