Ken Borland

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Fast bowler David Wiese will be back in contention for the Unlimited Titans team tonight as they take on the bizhub Highveld Lions in their Momentum One-Day Cup match at the Wanderers.

The Titans attack will be eager to make up for their shoddy performance in their last outing, when they failed to defend 301 in 42 overs against the Dolphins at SuperSport Park, but coach Rob Walter said their best bowler of last season will not necessarily be rushed back into action after an ankle injury.

“David is available again although he’s maybe not quite 100% match ready, but few cricketers would be after four weeks out with an injury. So it’s a process getting him back, but he’s obviously the sort of player you want around,” Walter told The Citizen yesterday.

Marchant de Lange will be the one bowler who will be reasonably satisfied with his performance against the Dolphins, his pace and accuracy proving a handful and threatening to drag the Titans back into the game, until he conceded 19 runs in the 40^th over.

“When Marchant’s fit and firing he really is devastating and I don’t think that was a particularly poor over he delivered, his thinking was right. The batsmen are allowed to play good shots as well, but the big thing is his pace is up,” Walter said.

While the Titans batting was superb against the Dolphins, Theunis de Bruyn and Farhaan Behardien scoring centuries, they will be under pressure too against a Highveld Lions attack that visited all sorts of destruction upon them on their way to a 190-run victory in a four-day game three weeks ago at the Wanderers. The experienced Jacques Rudolph is also still out injured with stitches in his finger.

“We didn’t do very well against them in the four-day game, but then the last time we played them in the One-Day Cup we gave them a hiding. But they’re a really good team, very well balanced, and they’ve started with success, their tails are up and that makes them dangerous,” Walter said.

With all eyes on the World Cup towards the end of the summer, Behardien certainly made sure nobody forgets about him as he blazed 105 not out off just 67 balls.

“There was a smartness to the way he batted, he showed such great game intelligence, which was lovely to see. At the start of his innings, his focus was all on rotating the strike, and at the end, against two of the best death bowlers in the country [Kyle Abbott and Robbie Frylinck], he really asserted his dominance,” Walter said.

“And it was great to see the quality of cricket Theunis played, some of the shots he played, he’s certainly capable of big things.”

The Titans coach is adamant that his team have done all the preparation necessary to bounce back from their opening defeat.

“Obviously we were disappointed in our performance in the field against the Dolphins and it’s very hard when you know how hard the guys have worked and for so long. I think the desire to do well, to win the game for the batsmen, created more pressure, they have massive pride in their performance and that created more stress.

“But there’s certainly been no lack of preparation, maybe we were a bit game-rusty and we did some basics very poorly.”

The hunger is certainly there in the Titans squad for them to bounce back with victory at the Wanderers.

“Any loss really fires up the guys even more and there’s a burning desire to be successful. The hard yards have been put in and we’re in a position to do well,” Walter said.

Titans squad: Henry Davids, Heino Kuhn, Theunis de Bruyn, Dean Elgar, Farhaan Behardien, David Wiese, Mangaliso Mosehle, Roelof van der Merwe, Marchant de Lange, Rowan Richards, Ethy Mbhalati, Graeme van Buuren.

A magnificent century by Morne van Wyk led the Sunfoil Dolphins to an unlikely five-wicket win with five balls to spare in their Momentum One-Day Cup opener against the Unlimited Titans at SuperSport Park last night.

The Titans had posted a franchise record 340 for six in their 50 overs, thanks to a century on List A debut by Theunis de Bruyn and a blazing 105 not out off just 67 balls by Farhaan Behardien.

A 35-minute rain delay after the dinner break meant the Dolphins’ target was adjusted to 301 in 42 overs and Van Wyk played a top-class innings, finishing on 121 not out off just 112 balls with 14 fours and two sixes to see them home.

Van Wyk played with a zen-like calm even though the required run-rate began to climb steeply after Vaughn van Jaarsveld was dismissed for a fine 62 off 55 balls.

The promising Khaya Zondo helped his skipper add the finishing touches with his composed 32 off 18 balls as the Titans bowled awfully and fell apart in the field, much as the Dolphins had earlier after winning the toss.

De Bruyn took advantage of the three chances given to him to stroke 108 off 90 balls, while Behardien’s 64-ball century was the fastest ever for the Titans, but both innings were in vain thanks to the profligacy of the bowlers.

The Springboks versus All Blacks rugby Test at Ellis Park last weekend counted as one of the greatest sports events I have been to and I felt immensely proud not just because our national rugby team won, but also because of the way they played and the way they carried themselves after the long-awaited triumph over their greatest rivals.

Even if one is not impressed by the way New Zealand and South Africa are steering rugby in a bright new direction of high-tempo play, the wonderful spirit shown between the two teams and the obviously high respect they hold each other in, must gladden the heart of all who love sport for the character-building effects it can have.

The wonderful gesture made by the All Blacks in Wellington when Richie McCaw handed over gifts to Bryan Habana and Jean de Villiers for playing their 100^th Tests will live long in the memory. The fact that nothing of that sort happened in Australia probably says more about the special relationship between the Springboks and All Blacks rather than any deficiencies on the Wallabies’ part.

But if the Springboks are going to win over even more hearts and minds – it is clear that still not everyone in South Africa believes they represent them – then perhaps they should take a leaf out of the book of their cricket counterparts who launched their ProteaFire campaign this week to some fanfare.

A huge part of the Proteas’ success in recent years has been due to the calibre of people in the team – the likes of Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy, Dale Steyn, Ryan McLaren, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander are all fantastic human beings – and the Springboks also have some fantastic leaders of men in their ranks, Jean de Villiers, Victor Matfield, Tendai Mtawarira, Adriaan Strauss, Duane Vermeulen, Francois Louw, Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen springing readily to mind.

Rugby will be facing their own World Cup challenge next year, but they will also be tested off the field with sponsors cutting back and transformation issues still bedevilling them.

Whether ProteaFire will help the cricketers finally win their World Cup remains to be seen but what is certain is that most of the population will be firmly behind them.

ProteaFire emphasises the importance of putting the team ahead of the individual and the concept of Ubuntu is a key part of Graeme Smith’s vision that started in 2007. Cricket is often, because of its tradition of statistics, a very individual game and one would have thought rugby, perhaps the greatest of team sports, would have been quicker to implement this sort of mission statement of what playing for the national side really means.

For the cricketers, their diversity will be their strength and rugby probably isn’t quite there yet.

Another important aspect of ProteaFire is that it is almost a contract the national team have signed with their supporters in terms of what is expected of them, on and off the field. As Hashim Amla pointed out, this does not mean treating players like babies.

“On the field, emotions can run high and nobody’s perfect. It’s not about having 15 saints, everybody’s different and it’s about getting the strengths of all 15 players together and dealing with any fallouts,” Amla said.

One cannot help but come to the conclusion that the current turmoil wreaking havoc in English cricket is born out of their failure to deal properly with issues of team culture and identity.

Kevin Pietersen can be a brat, but there have been difficult cricketers before who have been allowed to enjoy the middle of the spotlight while still contributing to the team success.

Last Saturday night at Ellis Park and Thursday night in the SuperSport studios were two proud evenings because it showed South African sports teams are getting it right.

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Joint defending champions, the Nashua Cape Cobras will be anxiously awaiting the fitness of four key players before they begin their Momentum One-Day Cup campaign against the Chevrolet Knights in Kimberley on Saturday.

Ace spinner Dane Piedt has had an operation on the shoulder he injured in the Champions League in India and will be out of action for six weeks, while Justin Kemp (broken hand), Rory Kleinveldt (knee) and regular captain Justin Ontong (back) are all in a race against time to be fit. Key pace bowler Beuran Hendricks is also a long-term absentee due to a stress fracture in his back.

Veteran Robin Peterson will be leading the side in the absence of Ontong and he says they will have to plan carefully due to the disruption.

“We’re struggling with a few injuries and therefore how to balance the side, which is going to make it tough up front in the competition. We’ll maybe have to blood a few more youngsters, it’s a bit of a changing of the guard, but we need to be mindful that the main reason we’ve been more successful than the other franchises recently is probably because we’re more experienced than the rest. When you have six or seven senior players, it makes it easier to bring in a couple of youngsters,” Peterson said.

The Knights will come into the game bursting with confidence after winning their opening two Sunfoil Series games to top the log and they will be fielding an in-form pace bowling trio in Corne Dry, Quinton Friend and the seasoned Dillon du Preez.

Captain Werner Coetsee will also be crucial, however, with his off-spinners and the 31-year-old has a fine record in limited-overs cricket, with both bat and ball.

“Wickets are what stop momentum, we will be trying to get them any way we can. Our bowlers are all in exciting form and we have plans during the fielding restrictions that we hope will give us the edge,” Coetsee said.

The Knights batting line-up, having lost Morne van Wyk, Dean Elgar, Ryan McLaren and Johan van der Wath, does not have many familiar names, but Rudi Second and Gihahn Cloete already have centuries to their name this season.

“There’s been a lot of talk about us losing our senior players, but the first two games have shown the responsibility of the batsmen. It does a lot for your self-confidence to win those matches and now we want to start well in the one-day competition and play consistent, disciplined cricket,” Coetsee said.

The Chevrolet Warriors, meanwhile, will be doing battle with the bizhub Highveld Lions in Potchefstroom on Sunday and will probably have to do so without Proteas star Wayne Parnell, who is still recovering from a shoulder injury.

With Coetsee spinning the Lions to defeat at the same venue last weekend, the Warriors are likely to attack the hosts with spin.

“Spin is massively important for us, ever since we had Robin Peterson, Johan Botha and Nicky Boje in the team, it’s something we’ve developed. Jon-Jon Smuts did a huge job for us last season and Simon Harmer proves himself every season,” Warriors captain Colin Ingram said.

With one batsman’s spot probably still open in the World Cup squad, Ingram said he would love to go to cricket’s showpiece event again, having travelled with the Proteas to India and Bangladesh in 2011.

“The World Cup is always at the back of your mind, but you have to prove yourself as a player at franchise level, so it’s really important for me to focus on the Warriors. International cricket has pressure of its own and it grew my game. I would definitely love to go again,” Ingram said.