Ken Borland

Our DP World Lions began their CSA T20 Challenge campaign with a painful defeat on their home turf against the Momentum Multiply Titans; but on Tuesday night they massaged that pain away with a comprehensive victory over their Gauteng neighbours, winning Qualifier 1 by seven wickets with four overs to spare to go directly into Sunday’s final.

It was an excellent all-round performance at the DP World Wanderers Stadium by #ThePrideOfJozi, with the bowlers doing a great job by bowling the Titans out for just 115, and then the batsmen, led by the ever-reliable Reeza Hendricks, cruised to 116 for three after 16 overs.

A good decision at the toss by skipper Bjorn Fortuin to bowl first because there was a bit of life in the pitch saw the DP World Lions take advantage as they reduced the Titans to 19 for three in the first four overs. Young Kwena Maphaka was once again superb as he took two of those three wickets, and then returned to claim a third in the penultimate over, finishing with figures of 4-1-11-3, the joint most economical in the competition this season.

Delano Potgieter was also excellent up front with one for 22 in his four overs, figures replicated by the other main all-rounder in the team, Evan Jones. Leg-spinner Nqaba Peter then wrapped up the innings with an outstanding return of 4-1-15-4, bamboozling and bowling both Donovan Ferreira and Dayyaan Galiem with his trademark sliders.

The loss of Zubayr Hamza (4) caught at cover in the third over, caused barely a pause for thought in the DP World Lions reply as Hendricks played a marvellous innings. The Proteas star looked comfortable on a pitch that always had something in it for the bowlers, stroking 61 off 43 balls, with seven fours and two sixes. Hendricks fell, trapped lbw by a Galiem off-cutter, just four runs short of becoming the highest ever run-scorer in the history of this competition: He moved to 3180 runs in 106 innings and Morne van Wyk’s record of 3183 runs in 113 innings will surely be surpassed in Sunday’s final.

The vastly experienced Rassie van der Dussen also played a fine innings as he stayed to the end, scoring 40 not out off 37 deliveries, with four fours. He added 92 off 69 balls for the second wicket with Hendricks.

Just as they did last season when they won the CSA T20 Challenge, our DP World Lions seem to saving their best cricket for the playoff rounds.

“We couldn’t really have asked for anything better tonight,” Hendricks said. “The bowlers set the tone, restricting the Titans to a good score for us, and then we were clinical with the bat to finish things off. So we are happy with the performance and hopefully we can repeat it on Sunday.

“It was a really good game by us after we had a bit of a stumble against Western Province last week, and hopefully we are peaking at the right time again. It gives us a great deal of confidence to beat this strong Titans outfit, but whoever we play on Sunday is going to come out firing against us,” Hendricks said.

The advent of the Currie Cup competition running concurrently with the United Rugby Championship has played a role, but Bulls coach Jake White was never going to change much for his team’s derby against the Lions at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, given how thoroughly they outplayed their neighbours last weekend at Ellis Park.

With the Bulls also having a midweek Currie Cup game, there has been little crossover between the two teams and the only change in personnel has been Cornal Hendricks replacing David Kriel on the bench. Zak Burger is now the starting scrumhalf with Embrose Papier coming off the bench.

It is a stark contrast to the Lions, who will bring a much-changed team to Pretoria with half-a-dozen big names missing.

“I have confidence in these players, the team is strong enough to win if we play well,” White said on Friday. “Victory is not a formality though, there are standards we have to meet and we have to make sure we play well again.

“The Lions will be different though and we expect they will play better. Their coach and captain has given them the gears and they have made several changes.

“That’s a massive message and clearly they’re telling their players that if they don’t play well, don’t pull their finger out, then they won’t get picked.

“We’ve had to field two teams this week, so circumstances have also played a part in us keeping the same group together. But I prefer our model, keep the combinations playing together so you get cohesion,” White said.

Beating the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld has been an impassable mountain for almost all visitors over the last couple of years, until the last fortnight, with the home side tasting defeat to the Stormers in the URC and then to the Free State Cheetahs in the Currie Cup.

“We don’t want to lose anywhere and there is internal pressure around that of course, that’s the way it should be,” White said. “But there’s no external pressure, rugby is meant to be fun and we’ve got to enjoy it.

“If it had been a do-or-die match in midweek against the Cheetahs then maybe we would have fielded our strongest team, but we are mindful of our end goal.

“In 1996, Super Rugby’s first season, the Canterbury Crusaders finished last and they became the most dominant team in the competition. One of the key attributes of a succesful team is understanding and synergy between the players.

“Being a bomb detonator – now that’s a pressure job!” White quipped.

He will be hoping his team bring the same explosiveness they produced at Ellis Park last weekend to avoid another bombshell upset at home.

Bulls team:Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie, Lionel Mapoe, Harold Vorster, Madosh Tambwe, Morné Steyn, Zak Burger; Elrigh Louw, Arno Botha, Marcell Coetzee (CAPT), Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Jacques van Rooyen, Johan Grobbelaar, Simphiwe Matanzima. IMPACT-Bismarck du Plessis, Lizo Gqoboka, Robert Hunt, Janko Swanepoel, Muller Uys; Embrose Papier, Chris Smith, Cornal Hendricks.

The Unlimited Titans will travel across the Jukskei River – as well as a few smaller streams – today to do battle with neighbours and arch-rivals the bizhub Highveld Lions in the second edition of the Momentum eKasi Challenge, to be played this year at the Dobsonville Oval in Soweto.

And, in keeping with Cricket South Africa’s new transformation targets, there will be a healthy sprinkling of Black African players to inspire township cricket fans.

Pacemen Junior Dala, who came across from the Lions to the Titans last year, and Ethy Mbhalati, and wicketkeeper/batsman Mangaliso Mosehle will play for the Titans, while in-form SA A batsman Temba Bavuma, seamer Pumelela Matshikwe and wrist-spinner Eddie Leie will be in action for the Lions.

It may just be a pre-season friendly, with all 13 squad members allowed to be used, but Roelof van der Merwe, one of the toughest competitors you will ever come across, believes there is much to be gained for the Titans if they can reverse last season’s result and beat the Lions on their home turf.

“Every game against the Lions, we like to beat them, and I’m sure the feeling is mutual. It will be a good measure to see where we are in our preparations, especially for the bowlers because we really want to nail down our skills ahead of the new season,” Van der Merwe told The Pretoria News yesterday.

While much of the Titans squad will be shaking off the winter rust, even though they have been training hard in the nets for a couple of months, Van der Merwe is looking forward to bowling on a Dobsonville Oval pitch that looks similar to the West Indian wickets he has been plying his trade on while playing half-a-dozen games for the St Lucia Zouks in the Caribbean Premier League.

“The pitch looks a bit dry and slow, so I think we’ll play both frontline spinners, myself and Eden Links,” the left-arm orthodox bowler acknowledged.

With the rise of Shaun von Berg, Links did not get much chance for the Titans last season and he will be eager to put himself back at the forefront of coach Rob Walter’s thinking with a strong performance today.

While the likes of Von Berg and Graeme van Buuren, and the injured trio of Henry Davids, Albie Morkel and Rowan Richards, will obviously be back in the frame once the Titans open the Momentum One-Day Cup on October 10, today’s match is an important first step for several players with big seasons ahead of them.

For Dean Elgar, Farhaan Behardien, David Wiese and maybe even Heino Kuhn, there is the lure of the World Cup squad early next year, while Theunis de Bruyn, Vincent Moore and Heinrich Klaasen, all members of the highly-successful Tuks side, will want to show that they should be a part of the Titans’ season ahead.

For the Lions, the importance of starting the season well is even greater as they endured the most miserable of times in 2013/14.

The batting has an inexperienced look to it, with Stephen Cook, Gulam Bodi and Bavuma the only seasoned franchise players, while the pace attack will be led by Hardus Viljoen. Coach Geoff Toyana has chosen two of the talented up-and-coming pacemen in Gauteng to back up him and Matshikwe, in the form of Sean Jamison and Matthew Arnold.

The waiting is finally over for the 26 players involved in the eKasi Challenge and they will be looking to explode into action to provide the best sort of inspiration for the township spectators getting a rare glimpse of franchise cricket.

Squads

Highveld Lions: Stephen Cook, Gulam Bodi, Temba Bavuma, Yaseen Valli, Devon Conway, Nicky van den Bergh, Dwaine Pretorius, Sean Jamison, Hardus Viljoen, Pumelela Matshikwe, Eddie Leie, Rassie van der Dussen, Matthew Arnold.

Titans: Dean Elgar, Theunis de Bruyn, Heino Kuhn, Farhaan Behardien, Roelof van der Merwe, David Wiese, Mangaliso Mosehle, Eden Links, Vincent Moore, Ethy Mbhalati, Junior Dala, Heinrich Klaasen, Tabraiz Shamsi.

*Play starts at 9.30am & will be broadcast live on SuperSport 2

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.