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.

It will be back to the drawing board for the Unlimited Titans batsmen after bizhub Highveld Lions fast bowler Hardus Viljoen took seven for 32 to consign them to a 190-run defeat in their opening Sunfoil Series match at the Wanderers on Sunday.

The Titans were dismissed for just 169 in their second innings, having staggered to 197 in their first knock, and their top-order batsmen will be under the spotlight as they showed no improvement from last season when none of them managed to score a four-day century.

“We have to get up now for our game against the Warriors in Benoni on Thursday and the batsmen have to fight tooth and nail. When you lose your first game, the only way is up,” disappointed Titans captain Farhaan Behardien said after the defeat.

Behardien could be counted as the only real batting success for the Titans as he scored 58 and 71 not out, but he lacked support, with wicketkeeper/batsman Mangaliso Mosehle the next heaviest scorer for the visitors with innings of 35 and 42.

Having surrendered a first-innings lead of 204, the Titans were set 360 for victory but batting out three-and-a-half sessions was a far more accurate description of the challenge before them.

And when Chris Morris reduced them to 50 for four overnight, the only sensible prediction for the fourth day was a comfortable Lions victory.

And Viljoen ensured that was the case soon after lunch as his exceptional performance garnered him his best ever Sunfoil Series figures, beating the six for 24 he claimed in the match between the same sides in Benoni two seasons ago.

“In the past I’ve been a bit expensive with my bowling but now I want to concede less than three runs an over. All the top international bowlers do that and build pressure. I want to keep my economy rate down and hit good areas.

“Last year I was trying to swing the ball, so I wasn’t hitting the deck. I’m not a swing bowler, that took away my aggression,” Viljoen said after his fiery performance.

There was a brief intermission to the Viljoen-inspired carnage when Behardien and Mosehle added 81 for the seventh wicket in 20 overs, but Viljoen ended that in the final over before lunch when he drew Mosehle into playing at a super delivery that kicked away to find the edge, wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock moving smartly to claim a low catch, one of eight he took in the match.

Viljoen certainly found the right lengths on a typical Wanderers pitch that becomes more up-and-down as the match progresses, and he was superbly supported by his three fellow pace bowlers – Morris, Kagiso Rabada and Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

“I’m very happy, I’ll take that start to the season any day. After all the plotting and planning, the training and all the hard work, it’s great when it goes better than expected,” Lions captain Stephen Cook said.

“To have those four fast bowlers is fantastic, it was maybe a risk not to play a specialist spinner and when a few turned past me on day one, I was wondering if it was the right decision. But this Wanderers pitch seems to stop turning and goes more up and down on days three and four, and those are four quality pacemen who all bring something different,” the Lions opener said.

The most immediate problem for the Titans to sort out is the fact that they were off to awful starts in both innings – 47 for four in the first and 28 for four in the second.

“Our start is key and unfortunately we gave the fast bowlers an early sniff in both innings. We have to have a better foundation up front, we need someone to make a hundred. When you’re up against a pace attack like that, you’ve got to get them into their third or fourth spells, you’ve got to build partnerships,” Behardien said.

Australia captain Michael Clarke saluted his wrecking-ball fast bowler Mitchell Johnson for his top-class effort in destroying South Africa in the first Test at Centurion over the weekend, but added that he expected the hosts to be a much tougher proposition in the second Test starting in Port Elizabeth on Thursday.

“Everyone who loves cricket around the world knows that Mitchell Johnson is bowling at 150km/h and executing his skills better than anyone else in the game at the moment. It’s an amazing skill to bowl fast, but to also hit the mark like he did is top-class,” Clarke said after the 281-run walloping at SuperSport Park.

“But there’s still a lot of skill left in that South African changeroom and I’m sure they’ll be a tougher proposition when they come out in Port Elizabeth and we’ll have to be at our best again. Against the number one side in the world, away from home, the only way to beat them is to be at your best all day, every day. They are a world-class team, there’s no doubt about it.”

South Africa captain Graeme Smith denied that there would be any mental scarring after the Johnson working-over, but it is certainly going to take a mental shift for the home side to rebound and stay in the series.

“We’ve only lost a cricket match, even though we were beaten comprehensively. There’s still a lot of confidence in our side and we still have reference points, not long ago we put Mitchell Johnson under pressure.

“We need to find a way to curb him. Our game plan and mindsets are good, but the surface really suited him with indifferent bounce. He obviously bowled well, but the pitch played a big role. The key is to make sure our top-order builds big partnerships against him,” Smith said.

Clarke himself admitted that the pitch, on which the bounce became more and more inconsistent, had played a large role in South Africa’s fourth-day capitulation.

“It was quite a nasty wicket to be honest, you’d not like to see any team batting second on that. That’s why I declared after 3.2 overs, which certainly wasn’t the plan. But I saw enough to know the pitch was quite dangerous and we got off as quickly as we could. The conditions had a lot to do with what happened today,” Clarke said after South Africa were bundled out for 200 in 59.4 overs.

Apart from Johnson, who boasted match figures of 12 for 127, the best by a fast bowler against South Africa since readmission, the other noticeable difference between the two sides at Centurion was the amount of intensity Australia showed in everything they did. It comes from the pain they have suffered recently before turning their fortunes around in the Ashes at home.

“I’ve addressed the group several times about attitude and hunger and the response has been outstanding. We keep finding ways to get back into games and we’ve been able to run with momentum when we have it.

“Our batsmen deserve a lot of credit for making runs on quite a tough pitch and Shaun Marsh and Alex Doolan really showed that hunger against the best attack I’ve played against.

“You have to go through tough times to really cherish these moments and we take nothing for granted. We want to get back to number one and we’re showing a large amount of hunger to do it,” Clarke said.

South Africa, number one for so long, have received a huge wake-up call and hopefully their pride has been sufficiently stung for them to produce the massive improvement required in Port Elizabeth to keep the series alive.

“Again we’ve started a series very slowly, but this result will benefit us long-term,” Smith said. “We need to make good leadership decisions and not get caught in the emotion. We deserve every bit of criticism coming our way, but we need to be smart and respond well.”

Peter Siddle would like nothing better than to chop through South Africa's top-order.

Fast bowler Peter Siddle was a competitive woodchopper at school in Gippsland, the large rural area east of Melbourne, a quintessentially Australian pursuit that one can safely say does not feature in the extramural activities of many South African schools.

His parents gave him his first axe when he was just two years old and, although he is no longer a woodchopper, Siddle brings many of the strengths he learnt from those days into Australia’s favourite summer sport.

He goes at batsmen with the same aggression, he is indefatigable and, despite being a lean machine who has converted to a vegan diet, has considerable strength and stamina.

And the 29-year-old has plenty of character too: His tussles with the South African batsmen in the summer of 2008/9 were epic viewing and the Wanderers crowd chanting “Siddle is … a wanker” remain fresh in the memory. Apart from his undoubted qualities as a bowler, there is something of the pantomime villain about Siddle, who is a most likeable fellow off the field.

“I think we’re similar to the South Africans in that we do play aggressively. Intimidation can work against anyone, we’re fortunate to have someone like Mitchell Johnson, and at those speeds, batting is hard work whatever the conditions,” Siddle says.

Siddle will be one of the star attractions of the thrilling late summer that lies ahead, but, having played 51 Tests now, he is a clever bowler these days. He has erred in the past by bowling too short too often, but Siddle now tends to keep the ball full and straight and uses a swift, well-directed bouncer as a nasty surprise.

Australia’s slide began after that 2008/9 home and away series against South Africa and a couple of coaches have paid the price for their indifferent form. A 5-0 whitewash of England suggests they may have turned the corner, but the opposition did throw in the towel in feeble fashion and South Africa at home should provide a real test of their new order under Darren Lehmann and Michael Clarke.

They certainly seem a more settled outfit.

“As a whole, the team is a lot more suited to our plans now. We’ve come a long way, with a couple of personnel changes, we’ve got back to a couple of older boys in the bowling attack. The Ashes showed how far we’ve come,” Siddle says.

“We need to stay a lot more patient, with both bat and ball. We’ve bowled very consistently as a group, Nathan Lyon has done so well at the other end and the three quicks have been able to bowl fast, short spells.”

Siddle chuckles at the suggestion that the English batsmen were soft and says the Australians know the South African batting line-up is a formidable one, but plans have been set in place.

“We know it’s going to be a tough series, we’re going to have to be consistent over four or five days, building pressure and not letting them get away with partnerships.

“It makes us a bit more happy that Jacques Kallis won’t be there because his record speaks for itself. He’s one of the greats and, although it’s disappointing not to play against him, it’s a nice feeling not having to bowl at him!

“But there are still plenty of others to take his place and we’re going to have to work hard, South Africa are number one for a reason. Like Faf du Plessis, who gave us a really tough day in Adelaide 18 months ago. That showed the character of the player, he enjoys the challenge. But we have a bit more understanding of him now and I’ve no doubt we have good plans to bowl to him,” Siddle says.

Siddle said talk that South African pitches were different to those they were used to Australia was wide of the mark.

“The Gabba, Melbourne to an extent and Hobart are all very similar to here with the ball moving around. But it’s still about bowling the right line and length and I think we’ve achieved that in the last six months,” he says.

The eater of 15 bananas a day is famous for the tight line he employs just outside off stump, with the occasional mean delivery banged in [he famously hit Gautam Gambhir on the head with his first ball in Test cricket], and seems to thrive on the hard, unglamorous work of Test bowling.

His batting has also improved markedly and last March he became the first number nine batsman in Test history to score a half-century in each innings of a Test, against India on a turning track in Delhi.

The Victorian who took a hat-trick against England on his 26^th birthday is the archetypal determined Aussie and the three-Test series is definitely the better for having him in it.