Ken Borland

The Titans have spent the week “working the emotions out” from their parlous Momentum One-Day Cup opening match against the Warriors, according to coach Rob Walter, and they have been boosted by the returns of Albie Morkel and Marchant de Lange from international duty.

Grant Thomson, however, must be pondering Lady Luck and her capricious side as he has been ruled out of Friday’s match against the Cape Cobras at Newlands with a hamstring strain. Thomson, having fought so hard to get into the side, made his franchise 50-over debut against the Warriors and top-scored with a wonderful 98 not out off just 71 balls, and now he’s unfortunately on the sidelines again.

“We’ve been working the emotions out and clearing the heads because the guys were visibly hurt by that performance. They invested a lot in that opening game, they worked flippen hard for four months and then they deliver that. We trained our best, we spoke specifically about starting well, getting the basics right in the field, extras …

“But it was game one and it’s about what happens next. On the positive side, we dominated about 70% of that game, we had an outstanding middle 20 overs and a very good last five. So it was just the opening overs and 40-45 that cost us,” Walter said on Tuesday at SuperSport Park.

Walter is too young to wear spectacles, but if he did there would be a few areas he would be giving special focus to before the defending champions travel to Cape Town for a repeat of last season’s final.

“There were basics errors in the field, we couldn’t even get the regulation stuff right, and the extras will get specific attention. It’s becoming a bit of a trend for us but it’s hard to put a finger on why. You never see us training without cones in front of the line to stop no-balls and the wides are of course disappointing as well.

“Strike-rate is also key up front with the bat and we had 48 dot balls in the first 60, while scoring 28 runs, so it was mostly fours and not much rotation. Henry Davids is a seasoned campaigner, but for Mangi Mosehle it was his first time out opening and his 49 ensured a nice foundation was set. He’s been working on tightening his defence and that shone through, and he will learn to be more assertive,” Walter said.

The time to panic has arrived and Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer is going to have to shed his fear of losing because the struggles of 2015 have now developed into a full-scale crisis after the shock loss to Japan in their opening World Cup match.

As magnificently as Japan played, what makes the loss even harder to swallow is that Eddie Jones telegraphed their game plan during the week; everybody knew they would go low in the tackle, bring pressure on the breakdown and move the ball away quickly from the collisions, and yet Meyer and the Springboks were unable to develop or execute a strategy to counter this.

All those tired old, injured bodies were not able to physically dominate the smallest team in international rugby, so what chance do they have against the massive Samoans? And if anyone says “no, but the Springboks will be ‘up’ for that game”, then I’d like to know what the hell was wrong with them that they couldn’t get properly motivated for the World Cup opening game?!

A defeat to Samoa will, in all probability, mean a flight home after the pool stages for the Springboks, so Meyer is now in a position where he has to go for broke.

A second-row of Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager will bring a more physical edge, which will be a prerequisite against Samoa. Francois Louw was anonymous against Japan after his injury woes and a second flank playing to the ball in Siya Kolisi could be useful. Frans Malherbe must come in for the unfit Coenie Oosthuizen.

Schalk Burger was a busy contributor, but what did he actually achieve? He is no longer a dominant force in the collisions, turning over ball far too often in contact, and constantly popping up at flyhalf or inside centre made him a disruptive force in the backline. Duane Vermeulen has to return, as captain, and maybe even Willem Alberts, if the medical team can actually get him on to a rugby field.

Zane Kirchner, after a bright opening 10 minutes, disappeared and is a total non-contributor on attack; Willie le Roux has to return at fullback to add a creative edge to a Springbok team that is a blunt weapon offensively.

Jean de Villiers has been a tremendous captain and a great player, but the emotion of a tenacious comeback should not be allowed to cloud the reality that the best centre pairing available for the Springboks right now is Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel.

It’s a great sadness that the legacy of top-class players like Victor Matfield, Schalk Burger, Fourie du Preez and De Villiers is being tarnished as they stumble on for a tournament too far. Du Preez should start at scrumhalf against Samoa and have a last chance to show that he still has a role to play for the Springboks.

The interlinking talents of batting and spin bowling will give the Unlimited Titans plenty of options in their opening Sunfoil Series match against the bizhub Highveld Lions starting at the Wanderers on Thursday.

Coach Rob Walter on Tuesday named eight frontline batsmen in his squad of 13 and four of those – Roelof van der Merwe, Henry Davids, Dean Elgar and Graeme van Buuren – are handy spinners who will be able to back up leg-spinner Shaun von Berg.

With Elgar and Heino Kuhn set to open the batting, and Farhaan Behardien and captain Henry Davids filling the middle-order, there are spots up for grab at numbers three and six. Theunis de Bruyn is one for the future at three, while Van der Merwe was the Titans’ leading run-scorer in the Sunfoil Series last season and probably has the inside lane for number six.

Fortunately, Walter is spoilt for choice in terms of batsmen.

“Watching the guys bat in the nets, there’s nobody who needs any extra work, everyone is looking in very good touch. Most of them have had game-time in the middle and now it’s just a case of executing and being mentally switched on,” Walter told The Citizen on Tuesday.

The Lions hammered the Titans in both their four-day matches last season and their fiery bowling attack, in particular, has troubled the batsmen.

“The Lions are really a very good four-day team, they have a great balance in terms of batting and bowling, and they should be contenders if they play to their strength. We lost twice to them last season, so we definitely have to raise our game,” Walter acknowledged.

The biggest focus for the Titans will be their batting because none of the frontline batsmen were able to get a century – Von Berg thrashing an unbeaten 105 off just 73 balls in a drawn game against the Cobras in Benoni, the fastest ton in franchise four-day history.

But their bowlers also had their inconsistencies last season and Walter is delighted that fast bowler Marchant de Lange is ready for action from the start of this campaign.

“It’s great to have a strike bowler like that available, especially after his successes with the SA A team that went to Australia, and I’m looking forward to seeing him in action,” the coach said.

In the absence of all-rounders David Wiese and Albie Morkel, both of whom are out with ankle injuries, De Lange will look to left-armer Rowan Richards and veteran Ethy Mbhalati for support with the new ball, while De Bruyn and Behardien are able to provide some medium-pace seamers as well.

Squad: Dean Elgar, Heino Kuhn, Theunis de Bruyn, Farhaan Behardien, Henry Davids, Roelof van der Merwe, Mangaliso Mosehle, Shaun von Berg, Marchant de Lange, Rowan Richards, Ethy Mbhalati, Qaasim Adams, 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.