Knights (cricket team)

Chevrolet Knights
Captain:	Boeta Dippenaar
Coach:	Sarel Cilliers
Colours:	Blue      Gold
Founded:	2003
Home ground:	Chevrolet Park
Capacity:	20,000
Official website:	Chevrolet Knights

The Chevrolet Knights is the name used by the combined Free State cricket team and Griqualand West first class cricket teams in South Africa. The team previously competed as the Diamond Eagles. The home venue is Chevrolet Park, Bloemfontein.

The combined team plays in the SuperSport Series and also in the One Day Domestic and Domestic Twenty20 limited over competitions.

Squad

Players with international caps are listed in bold.

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No.	Name	Nat	Birth date	Batting Style	Bowling Style	Notes
Batsmen
7	Ryan Bailey		(1982-09-07) 7 September 1982	Right-handed	Right arm medium pace
9	Rilee Rossouw		(1989-10-09) 9 October 1989	Left-handed	Right arm off break
17	Reeza Hendricks		(1989-08-14) 14 August 1989	Right-handed	Right arm medium-fast
64	Dean Elgar		(1987-06-11) 11 June 1987	Left-handed	Left arm slow
77	Boeta Dippenaar		(1977-06-14) 14 June 1977	Right-handed	Right arm off break
All-rounders
8	Ryan McLaren		(1983-02-09) 9 February 1983	Left-handed	Right arm medium-fast
16	Shadley van Schalkwyk		(1988-08-05) 5 August 1988	Left-handed	Right arm medium-fast
24	Johan van der Wath		(1978-01-10) 10 January 1978	Right-handed	Right arm medium-fast
25	Alan Kruger		(1981-02-16) 16 February 1981	Right-handed	Right arm medium-fast
26	Dillon du Preez		(1981-11-08) 8 November 1981	Right-handed	Right arm fast-medium
??	Charl Pietersen		(1983-01-06) 6 January 1983	Left-handed	Left arm medium-fast
??	Obus Pienaar		(1989-12-12) 12 December 1989	Right-handed	Left arm fast
??	Con de Lange		(1981-02-11) 11 February 1981	Right-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox
Wicket-keepers
21	Adrian McLaren		(1980-04-21) 21 April 1980	Right-hand bat	—
44	Morne van Wyk		(1979-03-20) 20 March 1979	Right-hand bat	—	Captain
Bowlers
0	Thandi Tshabalala		(1984-11-19) 19 November 1984	Right-handed	Right arm off break
60	Victor Mpitsang		(1980-03-28) 28 March 1980	Right-handed	Right arm fast-medium
??	Gino Vries		(1987-04-10) 10 April 1987	Right-handed	Right arm fast-medium

Champions League Twenty20

Qualification and 1st Round

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Diamond Eagles finished 2nd in the 2009 Standard Bank Pro20 and became eligible to play in the 2009 Champions League Twenty20. The team was placed in Group B with New South Wales Blues and Sussex Sharks. The team lost their first match against the New South Wales Blues and was not able to make even 100 runs and stayed on 91/9 but the second match went for a tied with Sussex Sharks in which the scores were tied at 119/7 (Sussex) and 119/4(Eagles). Eagles managed to clinch the Super Over. in the Super Over Eagles scored 9/1 while Sussex were knocked of the first two balls by Cornelius de Villiers and the Man of the Match was awarded to Rilee Rossouw.

2nd Round

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After some twists and turns Eagles somehow made it to the next round where they were placed in League A with New South Wales Blues, Somerset Sabres and Trinidad and Tobago. they were counted as a lost to blues as their previous result and won against the Somerset Sabres but lost against the Trinidad side in a must win match. CJ de Villiers again performed well in the game against Somerset CCC. They were unable to qualify for the semis but gained respect and earned themselves 7th out of 12 teams.

Honours

• SuperSport Series (1) - 2007–08 ; shared (1) - 2004–05
• MTN Championship (2) - 2004–05, 2005–06, 2010–11
• Pro20 Series (2) - 2003–04, 2005–06

The Chevrolet Knights is the most successful cricket team since South Africa decided to use a franchise system for all domestic competitions.

External sources

• Chevrolet Knights website

References

• South African Cricket Annual – various editions
• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack – various editions