Ken Borland

Vincent Moore, the 19-year-old paceman playing just his second Sunfoil Series match, was the leader of the Titans yesterday as he bowled them back into the game against the Highveld Lions at the Wanderers.

Moore, a left-armer, claimed three for 21 in eight overs to reduce the Lions to 109 for four at stumps, in reply to the inadequate Titans first innings of 147 all out.

The Titans had won the toss and elected to bat first and it looked an apt decision in the first 40 minutes as openers Heino Kuhn and Francois le Clus added 33.

But the admirable Lions attack then found the right lengths on a pitch that provided consistent movement but not such consistent bounce, medium-pacer Brett Pelser having by far his most successful day in franchise cricket with the ball as he claimed four for 28 in 15 overs.

The lively pitch ensured the Lions’ reply would be anything but dull and their batsmen also found it tough to stay in for a long time. Dominic Hendricks (21), Temba Bavuma (25) and Devon Conway (27) all played some sparkling strokes before being dismissed.

By stumps the decision to bat first was once again looking a reasonable one, with the uneven bounce suggesting batting last will be a tough task.

Qaasim Adams, the Titans’ import from the Western Cape, showed the stoutest resistance of all the batsmen, occupying the crease for two-and-a-half hours and only playing at what he had to on his way to 59, his first half-century for his new franchise.

Lions captain Stephen Cook was caught behind off CJ de Villiers for a duck, sparring outside off stump, before Moore entered the fray with an impressive opening spell of two for 20 in six overs.

Keeping the ball in the channel around off stump, he bowled at a lively pace and removed Bavuma, who had looked comfortable until then, in his second over.

Moore jagged a delivery back into the little right-hander, cutting him in two and getting the inside edge for Mangaliso Mosehle to claim his second catch.

Hendricks is lethal when given any width, so Moore kept a tight line to him and the talented left-hander eventually shouldered arms to a straight one and was bowled.

Moore then returned for a couple of overs just before stumps and removed Conway, edging a loose slash just outside off stump.

Neil McKenzie is obviously a key man for the Lions now, having batted in typically unflustered fashion to reach 30 not out.

Thami Tsolekile, released from the national squad, is with him on one not out.

Moore has given the Titans a window of opportunity to escape from the poor position their incompetent batting had seemingly condemned them to being imprisoned in for the rest of this match.

Titans captain Henry Davids

The Unlimited Titans take on Gauteng neighbours the Highveld Lions in a Sunfoil Series match at the Wanderers from this morning knowing that they are only as good as their previous performance, which fortunately in their case was a highly-encouraging return to four-day form, beating the Knights in Kimberley last weekend.

“We’re not looking too far forward, four-day cricket is our weakest format at the moment and we just want to go out and try to improve on our last showing and play disciplined cricket. But our last outing was a very good team performance, we stuck to our disciplines as a unit,” Titans captain Henry Davids said yesterday.

The Lions have had as tough a second-season fade-out under coach Geoffrey Toyana as could be imagined, but they are actually ahead of the Titans on the Sunfoil Series log, although by a slender three points.

It would be foolish to dismiss them, however, because they have quality players who will be hungry to make an impact and get something out of a thoroughly miserable season.

Quinton de Kock heads the list of star players as he goes about trying to prove he can play long-form cricket as spectacularly as he performs in the limited-overs formats. The Young Turk heads a batting line-up that features other future stars in Temba Bavuma and Dominic Hendricks, while Neil McKenzie, Stephen Cook and Thami Tsolekile have scored plenty of runs in four-day cricket down the years.

The Titans can probably kiss their hopes in the competition goodbye if they lose to the Lions as they are already 15 points behind the log-leading Cape Cobras, but in order to triumph their batsmen are going to have to police a probing Lions attack very carefully.

Once Hardus Viljoen and Lonwabo Tsotsobe have been blocked out with the new ball, there is the crafty leg-spin of Imran Tahir, the seam of Pumelela Matshikwe and possibly the swing of Cliffe Deacon to deal with.

In terms of the Titans attack, the bad news for them is that fast bowler Marchant de Lange, having travelled down many roads in trying to recover from a side strain, is still not fit enough for four-day action. He will be playing for Easterns in the three-day amateur competition instead, Davids confirmed.

Ethy Mbhalati and Albie Morkel are also out with niggling injuries and so the pace bowling responsibilities will fall on David Wiese, CJ de Villiers and young Vincent Moore, who shone with both bat and ball on debut last weekend.

Shaun von Berg, fresh off a career-best seven-wicket haul, and 10 in the match, against the Knights, will be a threat if the Wanderers pitch is tailor-made for Tahir, and Roelof van der Merwe will provide support in the spin department.

Hopefully, after going winless for 15 Sunfoil Series matches, the Titans have now turned the corner and they can maintain the momentum from Kimberley against the struggling Lions at the Wanderers.

Squads

Highveld Lions: Stephen Cook, Dominic Hendricks, Temba Bavuma, Neil McKenzie, Devon Conway, Quinton de Kock, Thami Tsolekile, Brett Pelser, Cliffe Deacon, Pumelela Matshikwe, Hardus Viljoen, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Imran Tahir, Rassie van der Dussen.

Titans: Heino Kuhn, Francois le Clus, Henry Davids, Farhaan Behardien, Qaasim Adams, Mangaliso Mosehle, David Wiese, Shaun von Berg, CJ de Villiers, Vincent Moore, Roelof van der Merwe, JP de Villiers, Cobus Pienaar.

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Despite the best efforts of their bowlers, the Highveld Lions were denied a crucial victory by the weather in their four-day domestic franchise series match against the Titans at the Wanderers on Sunday.

When bad light and then rain stopped play just after 4pm on the final day, the Titans were reeling on 137 for seven in their follow-on innings, still facing a deficit of 46 runs. With rain having also stopped play for two hours earlier in the afternoon, the Lions could obviously feel aggrieved that the weather had cost them victory and a vital extra 10 log points.

The effect of the draw is to leave the Lions still 13 points behind the log-leading Cape Cobras, but with a game in hand.

The weekend victories of the Dolphins over the Cobras (by 15 runs) and the Warriors over the Knights (by 10 wickets) have turned the series into a three-horse race. The Eastern Cape franchise now trails the Cobras by just 0.18 points.

Leg-spinner Imran Tahir quickly wrapped up the Titans first innings on Sunday morning, taking the last two wickets as the visitors were dismissed for just 120, 183 runs behind the Lions’ first innings of 303.

The home side enforced the follow-on and young fast bowlers Chris Morris and Hardus Viljoen shared six wickets as the Titans’ batsmen once again struggled to cope with the movement and bounce on offer under overcast skies.

Morris bowled Pieter Malan for a single in the third over but Jacques Rudolph (25) and Henry Davids (41), the Titans’ two members of the national squad, added 61 for the second wicket.

But Viljoen removed Rudolph, who edged a superb delivery that drew him forward and then nipped away into the gloves of Dominic Hendricks, keeping wicket as Thami Tsolekile rests an ankle strain, in the first over of the afternoon session.

Morris then claimed the important wicket of Davids five overs later, trapped lbw, and with Heino Kuhn (12) and David Wiese (3) also falling cheaply, the Lions were in obvious control when rain interrupted play just after the drinks break with the Titans on 128 for five.

The players returned after two hours, but the respite from the rain only lasted 13 minutes, with the Lions managing to claim the wickets of Roelof van der Merwe (4) and Shaun von Berg (5) in that time.

But the weather would have the final say as Viljoen finished with three for 25 in 13 overs and Morris took three for 54.

Mangaliso Mosehle was denying the Lions attack with 30 not out, but the Titans only had the tail left to bat.

Zander de Bruyn was named the man of the match for his important innings of 65 and his two valuable wickets in the first innings.

There will be no radical change in plan for the bizhub Highveld Lions following their first defeat in the Momentum One-Day Cup and heading into Wednesday’s match against the Sunfoil Dolphins in Durban.

The Lions set the early pace in the competition with four impressive victories, before their unbeaten run was ended last week by the Chevrolet Knights in Potchefstroom. In a rain-interrupted match, the Lions scored 250 for seven before the Knights chased down a Duckworth/Lewis-adjusted target of 204 in 33 overs with six wickets and seven balls to spare, thanks to a brilliant partnership of 64 in 7.5 overs between Obus Pienaar and Ryan McLaren.

“We were obviously disappointed to lose, you never want a winning run to end, but it was one of those games where we didn’t do anything drastically wrong, but lots of small mistakes added up against us. But it was a great partnership between Obus and Ryan, the game was in the balance and they took it away. But it’s certainly not panic stations for us,” Lions captain Stephen Cook told Sapa on Monday.

The loss has allowed the Nashua Titans to eat away at the Lions’ lead at the top of the log, with the north-eastern Gautengers now trailing by six points. The Dolphins are in third place, nine points behind the Lions and Cook recognises the importance of returning to winning ways.

“It’s incredibly difficult to go through a competition unbeaten, that would mean winning 11 straight games, but obviously our goal is to finish first on the log and in that way qualify directly for the final. But the games come thick and fast in this competition and it’s important that we focus on one at a time,” Cook said.

The Lions have traditionally done well when they travel to Durban, the pitch often being similar to what they have at the Wanderers.

“We’ve generally done well at Kingsmead, the pitch has bounce like at the Wanderers, even though it’s been more tennis ball bounce lately. But the beauty of the franchise system is that every team is strong and we expect the Dolphins to be tough to beat, especially after two wins. We want to do well both at home and away and we will have to be right on our game to beat them,” Cook said.

The Lions saw off the Dolphins by 89 runs in their match in Johannesburg, but the KwaZulu-Natalians have beaten the Knights and the Titans since then and Cook sees them as a real threat.

“I sense a bit of a resurgence in their team. They played good cricket earlier in the season but just didn’t quite get over the line. But they have dangerous bowlers and hitters.”

The in-form Lions opening batsman singled out the Dolphins attack – and Kyle Abbott, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, the “skilful” Robbie Frylinck and pacy Craig Alexander in particular – as key factors and much will depend on how the visitors’ batsmen fare at Kingsmead.

The use of experienced spinners in Nicky Boje and Werner Coetsee in the middle overs was how the Knights stymied the Lions batting in their only defeat thus far, but the Dolphins do not have slow bowlers of the same pedigree.

The Lions will be hoping both opening batsman Gulam Bodi and fast bowler Hardus Viljoen recover quickly from their fitness problems.

Bodi is expected to be back at the top of the order after missing the Knights loss due to illness, but Viljoen had to see a doctor on Monday and the competition’s leading wicket-taker is doubtful for the game in Durban.

Cook said the Lions had full confidence, however, in back-up pacemen Ethan O’Reilly and Garnett Kruger.

With the rare taste of defeat in their mouths, the Lions will be keen to return to the winning path and the Dolphins can expect sharp and motivated opposition on Wednesday.