Ken Borland

National call-ups and injuries have caused Unlimited Titans coach Rob Walter to “take a look into the future” in choosing a new-look team for their Sunfoil Series match against the Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras starting at Boland Park in Paarl today.

Farhaan Behardien and Albie Morkel have joined AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel in the national squad for the T20s against Australia starting on Sunday, while a broken finger has caused the withdrawal of all-rounder David Wiese, so effective with the new ball in recent weeks, joining Ethy Mbhalati and Rowan Richards on the sidelines with injuries.

JP de Villiers gets a chance for the Titans after taking 17 wickets in his last 2 first-class matches for Northerns

Walter has called up pacemen JP de Villiers and Marchant de Lange and batsman Graeme van Buuren, while seamer Junior Dala has been signed on loan from the Highveld Lions.

With youngsters like Francois le Clus, Vincent Moore and Mangaliso Mosehle already in the team, Walter said this weekend’s match would provide an insight into the next tier of talent available to the Titans.

“There are seven players unavailable so with all those guys missing, it’s been difficult to make too many changes. But it’s a great opportunity to look at the future of Titans cricket,” Walter told The Pretoria News yesterday.

The challenge of taking on the defending champions – and current log-leaders – at their tricky Paarl venue is a daunting one and the obvious area in which the Titans are going to have to show massive improvement in order to be competitive is in the batting.

“We’ve got to start getting to the situation where the top six are contributing primarily in terms of runs. We’ve bowled particularly well in the last few games, but the batting line-up really needs to step up and show that they are worthy of their reputations,” Walter said.

Adapting to the quirky conditions of Boland Park will also be crucial. Unlike Gauteng, the Western Cape is baking hot and Walter is expecting that to force the groundsman to leave some grass on the pitch.

“It won’t be that quick, but there may be a bit of lateral movement early on and then it will become more up-and-down,” Walter said.

The Cobras are without Robin Peterson, who has a shoulder injury, and new Proteas call-up Beuran Hendricks, but captain Justin Ontong and his kin have depth and, most importantly, they know how to win.

According to Walter, that confident mentality is what his team need to develop.

“The Cobras play four-day cricket especially well and they’re a side that knows how to win. That’s what we need to get and we need to able to get into a scrap for four days. It’s going to be a tough ask, especially in Paarl,” Walter said.

Surprisingly, the Titans are not necessarily going to play the ultimate Bulldog, Roelof van der Merwe in the starting XI. The all-rounder will only get the nod if they play two spinners.

Without Van der Merwe, an already under-pressure batting line-up could see the struggling Mangaliso Mosehle move up to six and leg-spinner Shaun von Berg bat at seven.

Captain Henry Davids is batting number three and says he needs to lead from the front.

“I need to lead from the front and take responsibility, and batting at number three will give me that opportunity,” Davids said.

“We have bowled very well the past two games, but if we want to pressurise the Cobras, we need to compile big totals. Ultimately, our focus during the rest of the four-day competition is to improve our batting.”

Squads

Cape Cobras: Andrew Puttick, Omphile Ramela, Stiaan van Zyl, Justin Ontong, Yaseen Vallie, Dane Vilas, Justin Kemp, Rory Kleinveldt, Dane Piedt, Dane Paterson, Travis Muller.

Titans: Heino Kuhn, Francois le Clus, Henry Davids, Qaasim Adams, Graeme van Buuren, Mangaliso Mosehle, Roelof van der Merwe, Shaun von Berg, JP de Villiers, Vincent Moore, Marchant de Lange, Junior Dala.

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South African cricket enters a new era today, an uncertain time without the reassuring presence of Graeme Smith, made worse by the strong challenge to their number one Test ranking that is coming from Australia, who are playing with all the hunger and daring of the new kids on the block.

Smith cited the considerations of a young family and the wear and tear of 12 years of international cricket that forced ankle surgery last April for his decision to retire. The timing of his announcement – after the third day of the series-deciding third Test and with his team’s backs to the wall, has set off the conspiracy theorists.

But whatever the reasons for Smith’s retirement, the South African public owe him an enormous debt of gratitude. The Proteas faced an uncertain future when he took over in 2003, but Smith forged the unity, determination and appreciation for the different cultures present in the team that took them to the number one position in Test cricket. And he did all that while juggling the off-field demands of politicians, selfish administrators and a fickle public.

The statistics only tell some of the story of Smith’s immense contribution: A world record 109 Tests as captain, the most Test runs by a captain and the only batsman to score four fourth-innings centuries in wins.

His batting alone was formidable: 9265 runs at an average of 48.25 with 27 centuries; the highlights being the only South African to score four double-centuries and equalling Don Bradman’s record for the batsman with the most triple century partnerships.

But the growth of the team was mirrored by the development of Smith as a person. Handed the reins of a team in distress when he was just 22, he understandably used his natural confidence to try and stamp his mark.

The learning curve was steep, but Smith was a fast learner. The team were soon fully behind their captain, impressed by his courage in leading from the front, and the hints of arrogance that might have been present at the start of his tenure were soon replaced by a welcome thoughtfulness and honesty, especially in his dealings with the media.

The legacy and values that Smith has left in the form of world-class stars like AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn will hopefully guide the new era that the Proteas now enter.

Titans coach Rob Walter

“The responsibility is ours to make some hard calls on ourselves in terms of how we play the game,” Unlimited Titans coach Rob Walter said yesterday after his team had suffered another heavy Sunfoil Series defeat, losing by eight wickets to the Highveld Lions at the Wanderers.

“It’s not about pointing fingers, we are all – myself included – equally responsible for what I rate as our most disappointing performance of the season,” the coach said.

While Walter has understandably tried to share the blame around for the defeat, there is no doubt the batsmen were the most culpable as they produced an abject performance in scoring just 147 and 110 in the match.

And although the Wanderers pitch was a tricky one – there was always a bit of movement around and the bounce was uneven – it’s not as if they succumbed to a top-class bowling attack.

The chief destroyer for the Lions was medium-pacer Brett Pelser, who took seven for 44 in the match, far and away his best performance with the ball in franchise cricket.

“It wasn’t a great pitch, but there’s no ways it was a 147/110 wicket. If you watch the dismissals, most of them were due to poor shot selection and not related to the pitch. It was a case of the batsmen not really understanding what’s required to bat for a long period of time. It’s easy to convince yourself that the pitch is so bad, so you end up making a play and getting yourself out,” Walter said.

With the Titans now nearly 30 points off the pace of the log-leading Cape Cobras with just four rounds remaining, the time has probably come for some changes to the team.

Francois le Clus, Henry Davids and Mangaliso Mosehle are all averaging less than 20 with the bat, but the latter two have factors in their favour: Davids is the respected captain, while Mosehle is a fine wicketkeeper and, of course, a Black African. With Ethy Mbhalati out injured, a Titans team without a single Black African would be unacceptable to many.

“We’re certainly nearing the time when some changes are necessary to bring us some fresh ideas and fresh hunger,” Walter conceded.

Graeme van Buuren, who played a key role in the Titans’ amazing Momentum One-Day Cup comeback – it was so extraordinary a movie should be made of it – is one candidate for promotion, while there are other in-form batsmen in provincial cricket like opener Ernest Kemm, Tukkies star Theunis de Bruyn and wicketkeeper/batsman Heinrich Klaasen who are pushing hard for inclusion.

In contrast to the batsmen, the bowlers are in the coach’s good books at the moment. In the absence of Mbhalati, Marchant de Lange and Rowan Richards, they performed manfully in the Lions match.

“The bowling has improved tenfold. To bowl the Lions out of 212 when they were 106 for four was really good, and if we could have set them 180 in the second innings it would have been very interesting,” Walter said.

Off-spinner Dane Piedt picked up five wickets, including a hat-trick, as the Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras beat the Sunfoil Dolphins by 168 runs in their Sunfoil Series match at Boland Park in Paarl on Sunday to go to the top of the log.

The Dolphins were chasing 253 on the final day to win a thrilling match in which batting collapses after big partnerships were the order of the day.

But a wonderful spell of lively swing bowling by Travis Muller had them deep in trouble from the outset.

Muller swung the ball late and both ways to take five for 21 in nine overs, reducing the Dolphins to 60 for seven.

Piedt then wrapped up the tail, finishing the match with a hat-trick and superb figures of five for 16 in 4.4 overs.

Keshav Maharaj was bowled through the gate by a big-turning off-break for eight and then Mthokozisi Shezi and Craig Alexander both picked out fielders with aggressive strokes.

The Cobras are now nearly six points ahead of the second-placed Chevrolet Knights, but they began the day in disappointing fashion as they were bowled out for 280 in their second innings, having lost their last nine wickets for 87 runs.

Fast bowler Kyle Abbott was once again the destroyer, taking seven for 65 to give him 12 for 125 in the match.

Openers Divan van Wyk (18) and Imraan Khan (21), and captain Morne van Wyk (19 not out) were the only batsmen to reach double figures for the Dolphins as Muller and Piedt formed a formidable duo for the Cobras.

The Knights showed greater staying power than the Chevrolet Warriors as they beat them by 10 wickets on the fourth and final day of their match at Chevrolet Park in Bloemfontein.

The Warriors collapsed to 197 all out in their second innings on Sunday, leaving the Knights with a target of just 71 for victory, and openers Reeza Hendricks and Gihahn Cloete each scored 31 not out as they knocked off those runs in a breezy 18.3 overs.

The Warriors resumed on 25 for three and opener David White (89) and Ryan Bailey (39) fought hard as they added 101 for the fifth wicket before fast bowler Quinton Friend had Bailey caught behind.

Off-spinner Werner Coetsee (three for 47) and seamer Malusi Siboto (two for 27) then claimed the remaining five wickets for just 37 runs, killing off the Warriors’ hopes of setting the Knights a stiff target.

The hesitant, flatfooted Unlimited Titans batsmen succumbed meekly on Saturday as the bizhub Highveld Lions beat them by eight wickets in their match at the BidVest Wanderers Stadium.

The Lions batsmen kept their cool far better on a tricky Wanderers pitch, posting 212 in their first innings to claim a 65-run lead, and then bowling the Titans out for a meagre 110 in their second innings on Saturday.

That left the southern Gauteng team with a target of just 46 for victory and they knocked those runs off for the loss of two wickets in just 9.5 overs, captain Stephen Cook scoring 29 not out.

The gentle medium-pace of Brett Pelser was once again the undoing of the Titans as the all-rounder claimed three for 16 in 9.2 overs for superb match figures of seven for 44.

http://www.enca.com/sport-cricket/piedt-venomous-cobras-trounce-dolphins