Yet to win a match in the Karbonn Champions League Twenty20 2012, the Perth Scorchers are no longer in the race for a spot in the knock-outs. However, they will be playing their last match against the Auckland Aces who are still in the reckoning for a place in the semi-finals. The proud Australian side, who are keen to get a win under their belt before returning home, are ready to be the party spoilers as they take the field tomorrow confessed captain Marcus North while speaking to clt20.com. After their loss to the Delhi Daredevils yesterday in Cape Town, the Scorchers who arrived here earlier today, hit the nets at the Supersport Park later in the afternoon and looked like a lot determined to make amends.

Speaking to clt20.com ahead of their last game of the tournament, the Scorchers skipper reflected on their performance and talked about their plans for tomorrow.

Excerpts from his brief interview:

On whether the tournament has been tough

Yes, very much so. Especially after the other day [first match against the Titans], I thought that we had to win our last three games and then we came up against an extremely good Delhi Daredevils side and lost. There was no doubt that we were 10-20 runs short but we showed great character and we nearly pulled off a great game, which would have seen us in the tournament. But we still have a lot of pride to play for. We are playing an Aces side tomorrow that is well and truly in the tournament, so we will be trying our best to eliminate them.

On the preparations for the match against the Aces

We travelled from Cape Town to here this morning. We had a good pool session and had a good hit out. We are lucky to get some good weather and some good facilities. The guys are still pretty disappointed with the result in Cape Town but we are certainly looking to make amends tomorrow.

On whether the lack of opening partnerships has been an area of concern

There is no doubt that we haven’t been firing at the top. Most sides that have success in this format, their opening pair gets off to a good start; we are well aware of that. And tomorrow certainly we hope to do that. Looking at the surface out here it looks like there might be a better opportunity for the top two to stay at the crease and get a good score.

On CLT20

It is a fantastic tournament. It puts domestic players on a world stage against world-class players. Just for example going out and playing against Delhi Daredevils, who had world-class current players and national captains and they have a bloke like David Warner couldn’t even get a game. So, you are playing against quality sides like that; you get an opportunity like that when you are representing your country. To do that in this tournament is something fantastic. Playing in front of the cricketing world and especially the Indian cricketing world is certainly something that we don’t do a lot, so the guys have enjoyed the opportunities and the exposure that this has got us. But it’s a shame that we haven’t got the right results.

On the lack of success and the areas that they fell short in

It is probably a difficult one to answer. With this tournament being such a short one; qualifying games and four league games. We played against the Titans on their home ground, having a lot to play for, so that was a tough game. They got off to a flier. They are a good side. Then I thought that we were outplaying the Kolkata Knight Riders in Durban. I thought we were going to post a very good score, which I think would have been quite tough for them to chase down and then we played against Delhi and lost. T20 can bite you like that; it can be so close and just not get the result and that’s the hardest thing to swallow at times. But like I said, if we can walk away tomorrow with a good win against the Aces, we can at least go home with some pride.