Ken Borland

The Chevrolet Knights travel to Centurion today to take on the Unlimited Titans, whose key batsman Dean Elgar says he is not going to give a second thought to what plans his former team-mates might have for him when they visit SuperSport Park for their RamSlam T20 Challenge match.

That’s because the left-hander is comfortable that he has his plans in place and that was shown clearly last weekend when he opened the competition with a superb 72 off 48 balls against the Cape Cobras in the triple-header at the Wanderers. Elgar struck just two fours but cleared the boundary five times to prove what a versatile batsman he is, coach Rob Walter describing it as “a quality innings that might have surprised a few people”.

The incumbent Test opener told The Citizen yesterday though that whatever work he has done on his batting has been more mental and strategic than anything else.

“Playing the Knights is just another game for me, the Titans are my team now although I’m still friends with guys from the Knights. I don’t care about their plans against me because I’ve worked on my options and what I have in the bag should be sufficient. SuperSport Park is also usually a great batting ground, so I’m looking forward to it.

“I’m now a lot more specific with my batting in a game, I know better what is required in the different situations and I have proper game plans against the various types of bowlers. People don’t always expect me to bat like I did, because they see me as a one-format player which ticks me off,” Elgar said.

Elgar, who was the Titans’ best bowler as well with three for 20 in four overs, and fellow opener Henry Davids gave the Titans the perfect start in pursuit of a daunting 208 against the Cobras, adding 151 off just 96 balls, but they still ended up losing by 14 runs. Beating the Knights is all that matters for Elgar whatever his personal contribution.

“It’s going to be a very tough task against them, obviously, but we’ve put in a lot of hard work and talked about a few areas of our game. Those words now have to be put into practice and we have to start winning because the Titans are a brand that has always led South African cricket.

“It was nice to do well personally against the Cobras, but it didn’t mean anything because we lost, especially from the position we were in. I’d rather not perform and the team still wins,” Elgar said.

While the Titans batsmen are largely doing their bit, the bowling has been messy and they may turn to the unorthodox spin of Tabraiz Shamsi in tonight’s game.

There is a vacancy in the attack with Rowan Richards unavailable as he attends a family funeral and former SA U19 star Corbin Bosch has been added to the squad. It’s only prim and proper that he gets a look-in given the excellence of his limited-overs bowling skills.

“The bowling has been frustrating. We were poor against the Cobras despite our preparation being so specific and we had clear plans. A lot depends on the balance of the team and the surface, but there’s definitely space for the sort of bowler who can turn the ball both ways, so Shamsi is certainly in our plans,” Walter said.

The inclusion of the 24-year-old would give the Titans a powerful spin attack of Roelof van der Merwe, Elgar, Shamsi, Henry Davids and Graeme van Buuren, as well as three seamers in Ethy Mbhalati, JP de Villiers and Darren Sammy.

Just as Elgar would prefer not to be pigeon-holed as a one-dimensional batsman, he would also prefer to be considered as a package cricketer with his under-rated left-arm spin. His economy rate in 45 T20 matches is just 6.53.

“I actually think that Dean is a highly under-rated bowler, the stats show that he is a serious short-form spinner. That was a game-changing four overs from him against the Cobras and Roelof is also a master of his art, seriously skilful,” Walter said.

David Wiese bowled the Unlimited Titans to an 87-run victory over the Warriors and into fourth place on the final log in their Sunfoil Series match at SuperSport Park in Centurion yesterday.

The Warriors, chasing a daunting 395 for victory, were looking likely to achieve the task as David White’s magnificent century took them to 253 for three when Wiese came back into the attack 45 minutes before tea.

By the tea break, Wiese had already accounted for Ryan Bailey (18), Somila Seyibokwe (5) and claimed the key scalp of White, trapped lbw by a yorker he might have just got a scratch on, for a fabulous 142.

The all-rounder, who has been far and away the Titans’ best paceman this season, then all but sealed victory with the wickets of Simon Harmer (1) and Andrew Birch (0) in the first over after tea, to leave the Warriors on 283 for eight.

The match-winning spell of five for 30 in seven overs gave Wiese the best figures of his 59-match first-class career – six for 59 in 16 overs – and he also took 10 wickets in a game for the first time, his overall haul being 10 for 111.

The last two wickets fell to Grant Thomson, the debutant who bowled a crucial pressure-building spell opposite Wiese before tea to go with his impressive contributions of 40 and 53 with the bat, and Shaun von Berg, the leg-spinner who battled on the final day and returned figures of two for 88 in 20.1 overs.

Barring some juvenile confrontations out in the middle while White and Jon-Jon Smuts were batting together, it was another gripping final day at SuperSport Park, much like the thriller last weekend against the Knights, which the Titans also won.

White, who top-scored with 85 in the Warriors’ disappointing first innings of 234, stayed at the crease for 313 balls, hammering 24 fours off 210 balls, and while he was there, the Warriors were very much in the contest and up with the required run-rate.

He had dominated the first three hours of play, driving and hooking in impressive fashion as he added 124 for the second wicket with Colin Ackermann (51), 57 for the third wicket with Smuts (28) and 50 with Bailey for the fourth wicket.

Von Berg bowled 11 overs for 46 runs in the morning, consistent bad balls meaning a release of pressure, but fortunately Wiese produced a brilliant performance in the afternoon, justifying his status as the leader of the attack.

The 28-year-old played just six of the 10 matches but finished the campaign in the top six on the wicket-takers’ list, with 30 at 17.56, finishing second to Kyle Abbott in the averages.

Titans coach Rob Walter has indicated that fixing their four-day form is his chief priority and he will be hugely encouraged by the last two performances, with many of the fringe players excelling to give the Titans three victories in the season, the same as the Dolphins.

What the Unlimited Titans team to take on the Warriors in a Sunfoil Series match from today lacks in experience it will no doubt make up for in terms of enthusiasm as a new-look side completes the season at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

Coach Rob Walter has decided to reward the form of players excelling for Northerns and Easterns in the CSA Provincial Three-Day Competition, with Theunis de Bruyn, Ernest Kemm, Shershan Naidoo, Cobus Pienaar and Grant Thomson all included in the squad of 13 named yesterday.

This obviously means that some regular players will be missing out on the last game of the season, most notably the Titans’ leading run-scorer, Roelof van der Merwe and JP de Villiers, while Heino Kuhn, named as the franchise’s Player of the Year on Tuesday night, has been included in the squad but could well be rested from the starting XI.

“We want to give the guys who have performed at amateur level an opportunity, even though it means guys who deserve to play like Roelof and JP miss out, but we need to look at our options for next season. We need to acknowledge some of the performances that have been put in at that level,” Walter told The Pretoria News yesterday.

Thomson, the 26-year-old Easterns all-rounder, tops the averages in the CSA Provincial Three-Day Competition with 799 runs at 61.46, while he has also picked up 26 wickets with his seamers.

Naidoo, a 24-year-old from Pretoria Boys’ High and Tukkies, has earned his call-up through sheer consistency, scoring 675 runs with seven half-centuries and a hundred.

Easterns opener Ernest Kemm made his debut for the Titans last weekend, scoring just 3 and 8, but he has made three centuries this season at the amateur level and clearly deserves another chance as a future prospect.

Theunis de Bruyn and Cobus Pienaar have both shone for the Titans earlier this season and thoroughly deserve their recalls as they will clearly play a part next season.

Walter said his side will go in with an extra batting option against the Warriors because “it’s important when you have younger guys up front that there is some stability and depth”.

The coach said although the Warriors are also bringing a new-look team to Centurion, he was wary of their attack featuring Andrew Birch, Basheer Walters and new captain, off-spinner Simon Harmer, who have taken 84 wickets between them.

Although Colin Ingram and Davey Jacobs are both out injured and Ashwell Prince has retired, the Warriors batsmen are also not to be underestimated; when the Titans played them in Port Elizabeth just before Christmas, Michael Price scored 181 and Colin Ackermann 110 as they amassed a match-winning 502 for five declared.

Squad: Ernest Kemm, Theunis de Bruyn, Cobus Pienaar, Henry Davids, Qaasim Adams, Grant Thomson, David Wiese, Mangaliso Mosehle, Shaun von Berg, Marchant de Lange, Junior Dala, Shershan Naidoo, Heino Kuhn.

The Titans have introduced an IPL-style (with none of the horrible shady dealings) T20 cricket tournament to conclude the season with four squads bought by commercial sponsors taking part in the Northerns Bash at SuperSport Park in Centurion from April 10-13.

The pleasing aspect of this new T20 competition is that the top club players do get the opportunity to take part as well, with the Titans, Northerns and premier league players auctioned off with each team having a certain number of points to spend.

“You want to give club cricketers bubbling under the first-class sides the opportunity to show what they can do and this tournament does that,” Titans CEO Jacques Faul told The Pretoria News yesterday.

The involvement of established Titans stars like Ethy Mbhalati, Shaun von Berg, Roelof van der Merwe, David Wiese, Heino Kuhn and Mangaliso Mosehle, as well as up-and-coming junior stars like Murray Coetzee, Corbin Bosch and Aiden Markram will ensure that there is plenty of interest in the new event.

The support of the commercial partners – Global Softech Solutions (Gladiators), Nashua Tshwane (Phantoms), WAD Holdings (Pirates) and TMM Capital Investments (Tornados) – has also ensured that the inaugural event makes financial sense and Faul is hopeful that the tournament will take off and grow.

The Phantoms and the Tornados have the most Titans players with five each, while the Gladiators have three and the Pirates have decided to just use the services of national T20 star David Wiese.

Given the nature of T20 cricket and the autumnal pitches, it seems the Phantoms will obviously be the team to beat, boasting four high-quality spinners in Roelof van der Merwe, Shaun von Berg, Eden Links and young Thomas Kaber.

The Tornados have the batting talents of Heino Kuhn, Mangaliso Mosehle, Graeme van Buuren and Theunis de Bruyn to make them strong contenders as well.

The format of the competition is a round-robin leading to a final. With the problems of dew at this time of year, the decision has been made that all the matches will be day games, with two clashes per day.

Titans high performance coach Pierre Joubert has been appointed as the tournament commissioner.

“The purpose of the Bash is to give top players at club level an opportunity to perform at SuperSport Park and to give them a taste of provincial cricket. The Titans also wish to enhance our relationships with commercial partners and attract them to the Titans family,” Joubert said.

“All the commercial partners will have naming rights on the shirts of their team members, and will also get free access to suites for their company for the duration of the RamSlam T20 Challenge next season.

“There is a fresh vibe around SuperSport Park as club and provincial players are talking about the privilege of being part of the Northerns Bash. Some of the companies have asked if they could organise special barbeques and  team mascots and we are naturally very happy for the companies to do that, as it enhances a great fun element and atmosphere at these matches,” said Joubert.

Entrance for all four days of the Northerns Bash will be free.

Squads

Gladiators: Lerato Kgoatle, Cobus Pienaar, Ethy Mbhalati, Andre Malan, Bafana Mahlangu, Sean Dickson, Tertius Gouws, Murray Coetzee, Ryan Houbart, Corbin Bosch, Ruan Sadler, Kabelo Raseleka, Vincent Moore, Janneman Malan, Evan Jones, Ryk Eksteen. Coach – Johan Muller, manager – Leela Yemineni.

Phantoms: Thomas Kaber, Shaun von Berg, Qaasim Adams, JP de Villiers, Eden Links, Patrick Motao, Jason Brooker, Kobus Delport, Sean Phillips, Aiden Markram, Wayne Scott, Blake Schraader, Stefan Klopper, Roelof van der Merwe, Henk Coetzee, Roger Arendse, Rowan Richards. Coach – Nico Martin, manager – Divan Malan.

Pirates: Lesiba Ngoepe, Sash Naidoo, Heinrich Klaasen, David Bunn, David Wiese, Eldred Hawken, Dean Foxcroft, Ryan Cartwright, Cloete Buitendag, Tom Khoza, Wian van Heerden, Schalk van Heerden, Rivaldo Moonsammy, Willem Britz, Abrie Smit, Craig Letcher. Coach – Arno van Wyk, manager – French van Heerden.

Tornados: Heino Kuhn, Mangaliso Mosehle, Graeme van Buuren, Sami Mofokeng, Theunis de Bruyn, Junior Dala, Lucas Manzini, Regardt Verster, Gerry Pike, Jacques Snyman, Gerhard Linde, Thean Schutte, Niki Bouwer, Tyler Easton, Sean Nowak, Ruben Claassen. Coach – Pierre de Bruyn, manager – Aldin Smith.