Ken Borland

The final SuperSport Series trophy has been inscribed with “2011/12 champions Nashua Titans” but coach Matthew Maynard has imprinted a fresh mindset on his team for the new four-day competition, the Sunfoil Series.

“We’re trying to win the title, not defend it. It’s a slightly different mindset, but it means we just want to win every game. It’s obviously a massive competition for us and we know the opposition will have a slightly different take on us,” Maynard said at SuperSport Park on Tuesday.

The Titans will also be led by a new captain this year in Henry Davids, and Maynard said the appointment was made bearing in mind the disruption to the team caused by call-ups to their numerous national players.

“At this stage of Henry’s career, it’s definitely the right move. While Martin van Jaarsveld is very vocal and leads from the front, Henry is more likely to just go round and have a quiet word with the boys. He’s the guy I see taking the team forward.

“While someone like Faf du Plessis may be viewed as a more natural leader, his international commitments mean there would be too much disruption to the team and I’m big on not having disruptions to the team.”

Davids himself said he was excited by the challenge and, having averaged 35.65 in four-day cricket for the Titans, with just two centuries in 33 innings since joining the franchise in 2010/11, he is hoping the captaincy will also inspire him to greater deeds with the bat.

“It’s just an extra responsibility and I’m sure it will bring out the best in me. I enjoy challenges and I’ve been inspired by them in the past.

“My personality is to stay very calm and hopefully that will rub off on the team. They are very calm usually and I can be stern where needed too,” Davids said.

The Titans will go into their opening Sunfoil Series match, against the Knights in Kimberley from Thursday, already weakened by international call-ups for Du Plessis and Farhaan Behardien.

“It’s obviously tough losing Farhaan and Faf, and then Jacques Rudolph will be going on tour to Australia, but we’ll manage as we did last year and cover it. The players that came in last season all put their hands up, it wasn’t just two or three players that won us the SuperSport Series,” Maynard said.

The Titans are likely to go into the game against the Knights with two left-arm spinners in Paul Harris and Roelof van der Merwe, with Davids providing the off-break variety, while the pace bowling stocks are healthy with Ethy Mbhalati, CJ de Villiers, left-armer Rowan Richards and David Wiese, the other genuine all-rounder in the team.

The batting will be heavily dependent on Rudolph, Heino Kuhn and Davids, with two players in the top-order who are still learning their trade at this level in Tumelo Bodibe and Pieter Malan.

Davids sees the Knights as “tricky” opposition and one of the main challengers to their four-day title.

“The Knights are very tricky and they’ve been up there challenging since the start of the franchise competition. We’re expecting a great challenge and, even though there is no weak franchise in South Africa at the moment, we’re expecting the Knights and Cobras to give us the most problems,” Davids said.

LIKELY TITANS TEAM – Jacques Rudolph, Tumelo Bodibe, Pieter Malan, Henry Davids, Heino Kuhn, David Wiese, Roelof van der Merwe, CJ de Villiers, Paul Harris, Ethy Mbhalati, Rowan Richards. 12th man: Shaun von Berg.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/domestic-four-day/news/120918/Titans_have_fresh_mindset_for_title_defence

The Highveld Lions have always said all they needed to challenge for the four-day domestic title was a more penetrative bowling attack and new coach Geoffrey Toyana is confident that his team now have the weaponry to win the Sunfoil Series this season.

“In the past our strength has been our batting and our problem was the bowling. But that’s now been solved because we’ve signed Hardus Viljoen and Imran Tahir, and there’s Chris Morris coming through as well,” Toyana said at the Wanderers on Monday.

“Hopefully they will all bowl well for us, plus there’s Garnett Kruger back with us as well. But the biggest thing is for us to play good, consistent cricket in all formats. In the past, we’ve been good in one format but poor in the others.”

Alviro Petersen, the Lions captain, shared his coach’s enthusiasm, saying the Gauteng/North-West franchise would go into the competition with a new-look attack.

“The whole format of our attack has changed, we now have three strike bowlers and one holding bowler, plus Zander de Bruyn can do a holding job for us as well. The bowling was our problem area, you have to take wickets to win four-day matches. We’ve done well with our batting, but now the bowling has to improve,” Petersen said.

The Lions team is likely to be a blend of experienced senior players such as De Bruyn, Neil McKenzie, Petersen and Thami Tsolekile and exciting new prospects like Chris Morris, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock and Pumelela Matshikwe. The mix excites Toyana.

“It’s a good thing to have that mix and I’ve appointed Neil to work with Temba Bavuma this season, while Alviro will mentor Quinton de Kock. Plus there’s Stephen Cook around too so there’s experience and youth, and it’s a good mix,” Toyana said.

The Lions begin their Sunfoil Series campaign against the Cobras in Potchefstroom on Thursday, before playing the Dolphins in Johannesburg from September 27. But then, in a quirk of scheduling, they will change to T20 action with the Champions League taking precedence.

“I can live with it, there are no issues, it’s easier to go from four-day cricket to T20 than the other way round,” Toyana said.

Petersen reckoned that the two four-day games would be a good build-up for the Lions as they look to celebrate a lucrative payday in the Champions League.

“It will be good for us, those two four-day games will give us a good base. Hopefully we’ll spend a lot of time batting and bowling and we’ll be at 100% going into the Champions League,” Petersen said.

“The last couple of years, we’ve been building a team to win the four-day competition and now we’ve got the squad, there’s a good vibe around the team.

“Geoff’s style is different, as with every coach. He’s more relaxed. The Lions have matured as a side, Dave Nosworthy did a great job steadying the ship, and now Geoff allows the guys just to express themselves. He also communicates well with both the young and senior players,” the national team opener said.

“The players must relax, I want them to start enjoying playing cricket again, that has been missing. But we want to hit the season running. We tend to only wake up after two or three games, so I’ve emphasised that we need a good start,” Toyana said.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/domestic-four-day/news/120917/Toyana_confident_Lions_have_the_weaponry

South Africa were on track to defend their mediocre score when rain washed out the second T20 international against England at Old Trafford in Manchester on Monday.

 – http://www.supersport.com/cricket/sa-team/news/120910/Rain_ruins_SAs_victory_chances

South Africa had their banker, Hashim Amla, to thank as his 47 not out lifted them to 77 for five in their nine overs. England were in the fifth over of their chase, and were already two down with just 29 runs on the board, when the rain intensified to such an extent that the umpires had to abandon play.

The visitors were asked to bat first after losing the toss and Amla, opening the batting, adapted straight away to the shortest format of the game.

Rain as soon as the players were in place caused a two-and-a-half hour delay and reduced the match to nine overs a side, and there was some surprise that Amla still opened the batting. But thank goodness he did as there was a steady procession of batsmen coming in and going straight out at the other end.

Richard Levi (0), AB de Villiers (1) and Albie Morkel (3) all fell to limp attacking strokes as South Africa slipped to 37 for three in the fifth over.

Steven Finn began the rot with the first delivery, getting pace and bounce from a terrific pitch and just brushing Levi’s gloves on the way through to wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter.

De Villiers then popped up an attempted pull off Finn in his next over, Jade Dernbach taking a juggling catch running back from deep mid-on.

Morkel fell to the medium-pace of Luke Wright, but Amla was a revelation, his incredible ability to plunder runs in any format being proven again as he hammered 47 not out off 30 balls, with seven fours.

England failed to police the area behind square on the off side well enough as Amla found the gaps there with precise placement, wonderful timing and occasionally brute force.

JP Duminy (5) and Justin Ontong (1) fell cheaply in the sixth and seventh overs, finally bringing Jacques Kallis to the crease. South Africa’s greatest batsman said what he needed to say about his demotion with the bat, scoring 13 not out off seven balls, with two fours.

Dernbach bowled two top-class overs at the death, taking one for 12, while off-spinner Graeme Swann was a handful with 1-11 in two overs. Wright bowled a valuable single over for four runs and the crucial wicket of Morkel, while Finn was a menace with the new ball, taking 2-17 in his pair of overs.

But Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn are the top new-ball pair in world cricket and they soon had England under pressure in their reply.

Morkel bowled two superb overs up front for just eight runs, while Steyn removed Kieswetter for one as the wicketkeeper/batsman tried a pull/drive on the up and could only send a catch steepling practically as high as the floodlights, Robin Peterson taking a truly fine catch, diving at the last instant, at deep mid-on.

Wright (14) top-edged a hook off Albie Morkel to his brother Morne, who took a good catch running around from fine leg, but that also proved to be the end of the match as the rain, which had been falling for the entire innings, intensified.

South Africa, more than a dozen runs ahead on Duckworth/Lewis at that stage, were just five balls away from a completed match and they deserve full marks for their outstanding bowling and fielding in slippery conditions with a sodden ball.

South Africa will go into the final T20 international of the series with a 1-0 lead after the second game against England was washed out at Old Trafford in Manchester on Monday.

5th over – WICKET – Albie Morkel strikes with his first ball, Luke Wright (14) top-edging a bouncer and Morne Morkel taking a good catch in the sodden conditions, running around from fine leg. But now the rain, which has been falling throughout the innings, is really coming down and the umpires take everyone off the field. The match is abandoned soon afterwards with No Result.

4th over – Wright comes down the wicket to off-spinner Johan Botha and is met by a high full toss, which he pulls away through square-leg for four.

2nd over – WICKET– What a catch to claim South Africa’s first wicket! Craig Kieswetter (1) is trying to pull/drive Dale Steyn on the up, but the ball goes straight up, miles in the air, sending a steepling catch to deep mid-on where Robin Peterson does brilliantly to get more or less under the ball and then dive to take the catch. Alex Hales ends the over with an extraordinary six that just shows the pace in the pitch … trying to hoick Steyn to leg, the ball flies off the outside edge and well over the third man boundary!

South Africa innings

Hashim Amla batted through the innings, launching South Africa to 77 for five in their nine overs in the second T20 international against England at Old Trafford in Manchester on Monday.

9th over – Jacques Kallis slams a full ball from Jade Dernbach through extra cover, with enough power to beat the fielder running around the boundary from long-off.

8th over – South Africa get three boundaries from the penultimate over bowled by England captain Stuart Broad. Amla gets the first two with beautifullly precise and wonderfully timed steers behind square on the off side. Kallis then top-edges a hook over where the slips would be for four and has another slice of fortune off the next delivery as a top-edge flies high to third man, but Dernbach can’t reach the catch, blocking the ball on the bounce.

7th over – WICKET – Justin Ontong (1) tries to scoop Dernbach, but it’s the bowler’s notorious back-of-the-hand slower ball, which grips and bounces, and the batsman gets the ball high on the bat, looping a catch towards short fine-leg, wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter running across to claim it.

6th over – Amla, on 31, skips down the wicket to Graeme Swann but is not quite to the pitch and his slog-sweep goes high to wide mid-on where Eoin Morgan drops a sitter! WICKET – But the off-spinner gets his reward off the next delivery as JP Duminy (5) tries to hoist the ball down the ground, but can only sky it straight upwards. Swann runs backwards and takes a fine, one-handed tumbling catch behind his head.

5th over – WICKET – Luke Wright strikes with his second delivery as Albie Morkel (3) slices a big pull shot high to extra cover.

3rd over – WICKET – A controversial dismissal as Steven Finn has knocked over the bowler’s end stumps again but dead ball is not called. AB de Villiers (1) mistimes a pull shot to deep mid-on where Jade Dernbach is running backwards, juggles, but holds on to the catch. Amla drives up and over the covers off the next delivery and Jos Buttler is unable to prevent the boundary as he slips on the wet outfield. Two balls later, Amla steps across outside off stump and pull/flicks a short ball fine for four. Amla collects another boundary off the last ball of the powerplay as he slashes the fast bowler powerfully over backward point.

2nd over – Amla absolutely smashes Broad behind square on the off side for another ferocious boundary.

1st over – After a frustrating delay of two-and-a-quarter hours for rain, play eventually gets underway with a nine-overs-a-side-game. WICKET – And it’s an awful start for South Africa as Richard Levi is out first ball, gloving a short, lifting delivery down the leg side from Finn through to wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter. There may be some surprise that Amla is still opening the batting, but he collects a boundary off his first ball as he clatters a cut through point.