Ken Borland

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For Albie Morkel, taking over the captaincy of the Titans’ limited-overs teams is a chance for him to provide the sort of encouraging, fear-free environment that he himself missed out on in so many changerooms during a career that has seen the all-rounder play for a dozen different sides.

The 34-year-old has played the second most T20 cricket out of anyone in the world with 271 matches (West Indian Kieron Pollard leads the way with 290 games), but apart from bringing plenty of tactical knowledge out on the field, Morkel also believes it is vital to make a difference in the changeroom.

“Captaincy is a new challenge and something I haven’t done since school, but I feel I’m ready. I’ve seen most things in cricket and I have lots of experience to fall back on, but I want to add my own flavour to the job as well. It’s about what happens off the field as well, as captain having an open-door policy. It’s about how to get the best out of the players, knowing them outside cricket, what makes them tick.

“There’s a lot of talk at the moment about the New Zealand way – being more aggressive, taking wickets – and with the squad we have we can play that sort of cricket. But the big challenge is to get the player buy-in. They can’t be scared that they’re playing for their place, they need to play with freedom and I will encourage them to do that,” Morkel told The Citizen.

Bitter experience has been  a good teacher for the hard-hitting seam bowler in this regard.

“I always felt when I was with the national team, rightly or wrongly, that I was playing under pressure and I didn’t necessarily have the backing, except when Mickey Arthur was coach and that’s when I played my best cricket for South Africa. I wrote a lot of thoughts down about what I didn’t like as a cricketer and I believe 90% of it applies to all players, we have the same worries and fears. I want to make them comfortable, eradicate the problems.

“Things like announcing the starting team two days before. Not knowing an hour before the game whether you’re playing or not just breaks you. I want to bring clarity, build trust with the players and be honest. In our environment, that’s the only way to get respect,” Morkel said.

The major benefit for the Titans is that it ensures Morkel, their match-winner in the Momentum One-Day Cup final last season, will be at the centre of the limited-overs campaigns next season, rather than on the periphery as he has been for various reasons in recent seasons.

“I don’t see myself playing international cricket anymore, so I want to put everything back into the Titans for the next couple of years,” Morkel said.

All-rounder David Wiese was the star for the Unlimited Titans on the second day of their Sunfoil Series match against the Warriors at SuperSport Park yesterday, his runs and wickets helping the home side to take firm control of the game.

Wiese was an important cog in heeding coach Rob Walter’s plea that the team show more application with the bat, scoring 46 as they posted 353 all out in their first innings, and then did another fine job with the ball for the Titans, claiming three for 26 in 15 overs as the Warriors limped to 165 for eight in reply.

Debutant Somila Seyibokwe (11*) and Basheer Walters (8*) were the batsmen at the crease for the Warriors when bad light stopped play at 4.35pm with 21 overs to be bowled on the second day.

In-form opener David White was the only batsman to shine for the Warriors as he scored a classy 85 off 116 balls on a pitch which is producing more and more uneven bounce.

While the Titans definitely had an advantage by winning the toss and batting first, their bowlers have been impressive, Wiese, Marchant de Lange, Shaun von Berg and Cobus Pienaar offering no leniency as they applied constant pressure.

White and Jon-Jon Smuts (20) offered the most resistance with a third-wicket stand of 60 after Michael Price (6) and Colin Ackermann (4) had fallen cheaply to De Lange and Wiese respectively shortly after lunch.

De Lange gave a glimpse of what the Aussie batsmen were fortunate to miss out on while he was injured, having Price caught at short-leg off a sharp lifter and generally bowling with terrific pace and ferocity, without the reward he deserved.

Ryan Bailey added 42 for the fourth wicket with White, but the veteran once again fell in the teens, falling into a short midwicket trap set by Pienaar and being well-caught by Qaasim Adams for 17.

Despite the odd delivery keeping lethally low, the Warriors batsmen were addicted to the drug of back-foot play and Athenkosi Dyili and Andrew Birch were both bowled for ducks, hanging back in the crease, by Pienaar and leg-spinner Von Berg respectively.

The Titans had begun the second day on 268 for six and Pienaar, who had done much to arrest a middle-order slide on the first day, completed his third half-century of this Sunfoil Series campaign off the third delivery of the day, but was then removed two balls later by Birch, driving to cover.

Wiese claimed eight fours off 71 balls and De Lange (27) also dished out some punishment though to lift the Titans to an impressive total, one that could ensure they are not left languishing at the bottom of the log.

The Unlimited Titans will welcome the return of all-rounder David Wiese and the debut of opening batsman Ernest Kemm as they take on the Knights in a Sunfoil Series match starting at SuperSport Park in Centurion from today.

Wiese broke his finger in the nets three weeks ago and he is back in time to lead an inexperienced Titans pace attack in the last two games of the season, and will also be hoping to regain some of the batting touch that has deserted him this year.

The 23-year-old Kemm captained Tukkies to the Momentum National Club Championships title last April and made his first-class debut for Easterns at the start of the summer, and has averaged 44.46 with three centuries. Left-handed and blessed with patience, he has the opportunity to throw his name into the hat for the Titans’ future planning in four-day cricket.

“Ernest is prepared to bat time and it’s exciting that he’s scored three centuries in amateur cricket, now we’ll see if he can take it up to franchise level. He has the patience of a traditional opening batsman, he sets up his stall, and we need that,” Titans coach Rob Walter told The Pretoria News yesterday.

Kemm takes the place of Graeme van Buuren, who joins the long list of unfortunate batsmen injured in the nets, taking a painful blow from Wiese during the week.

It’s been a long and difficult four-day campaign for the Titans and just one victory in eight matches has left them rooted to the bottom of the log. But there is still an outside chance of them finishing third and claiming R200 000 in prizemoney from Sunfoil if they can win their last two matches, against the Knights and Warriors, both at SuperSport Park.

The Knights are the team they have beaten in the Sunfoil Series this season – in Kimberley in mid-February – and their attack is stronger for this match with the return of fast bowler Marchant de Lange for the first time since November, after a string of delays due to minor niggles.

Mangaliso Mosehle also returns as wicketkeeper because Tumelo Bodibe, originally chosen for the previous match against the Dolphins that was abandoned without a ball being bowled a fortnight ago, has subsequently signed as a Knights player and, as Walter said, “it would be silly to play him if he’s not going to be part of our future”.

While the Titans are approaching the match as a pointer to how they can improve their four-day fortunes next season, the Knights are coming to Centurion chasing the title.

They are a fraction less than five points behind the Cape Cobras and will be regarding victory as non-negotiable, especially since the defending champions are hosting the Warriors at Newlands.

The Knights are confident that captain Johan van der Wath, who engineers so much of their success with his fiery bowling and powerful lower-order batting, will be fit to play, but Dean Elgar is an unlikely starter and Ryan McLaren has not recovered from a shoulder injury.

But the Titans are going to have to be prepared to take on a side that is confident and hungry for success, boasting an impressive pace attack, an in-form spinner in Werner Coetsee and dangerous batsmen like Rilee Rossouw.

“The Knights’ performance speaks for itself, they’ve won a lot of games [4] and must have played well. They know how to perform.

“But our only four-day win was against them, so we have good memories of that and hopefully we’ll play like we did in Kimberley. Our batting just really needs someone to step up,” Walter said.

Teams

Titans: Heino Kuhn, Ernest Kemm, Henry Davids, Qaasim Adams, Roelof van der Merwe, David Wiese, Mangaliso Mosehle, Shaun von Berg, JP de Villiers, Marchant de Lange, Junior Dala.

Knights (from): Gihahn Cloete, Rilee Rossouw, Rudi Second, Obus Pienaar, Gerhardt Abrahams, Johan van der Wath, Werner Coetsee, Quinton Friend, Duanne Olivier, Corne Dry, Malusi Siboto, Dean Elgar, Thabo Masheshemane.