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Journalism of Courage
The Auckland Aces skipper Gareth Hopkins is confident that senior pacers Daryl Tuffey and Chris Martin will recover in time before the start of their Champions League T20 campaign that starts next week. Hopkins who has played a few matches for the Black Caps stated,We have got a couple of injury concerns. Daryl Tuffey got swollen gums while Chris Martin has a shoulder injury. We are monitoring how it goes. Hopefully,they will pull through in time otherwise they wouldnt have been here in first place.
Hopkins admitted that his team is a bit short on experience as most of the youngsters havent played in the sub-continent. My expectations from the team is that the guys will give their 100 percent and we will move into the next round. We are just focussing on performing to the best of our abilities, Hopkins said.
Former Zimbabwean leg-spinner Paul Strang,who is currently coaching the Auckland Aces team added: We are focusing on one game at a time. I know that is something coaches say all the time. But we have got a qualifying phase. Any three teams can go through. We are focusing on the qualifying phase. I would like to qualify. I believe we can.
Asked how he saw chances of his team,he said: Kolkata and Somerset are two very good teams. It is a tough challenge. But we are prepared as well as we can. We got some good players in our team. Collectively,we may spring a few surprises.
