Ken Borland

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.

Heino Kuhn anchored the Unlimited Titans during their phenomenal late run to a share of the Momentum One-Day Cup trophy this season and the top-order batsman’s reward came last night as he picked up three major honours at the franchise’s annual awards dinner at SuperSport Park, celebrating his 30^th birthday in tremendous style.

Kuhn scored successive centuries in run-chases, preceded by an innings of 92 off 80 balls to keep the Titans alive in the competition, as he finished as the leading run-scorer in the One-Day Cup with 470 runs at an average of 47. Unsurprisingly, he was named as the Titans’ player of that tournament and must be the favourite to take the overall national honour too.

His decision to relinquish the wicketkeeper’s gloves in order to concentrate on his batting certainly paid off in the limited-overs formats and Kuhn also enjoyed an excellent RamSlam T20 Challenge run, averaging 36 at a strike-rate of 141.

A disappointing Sunfoil Series has seen Kuhn only average 25, but he has scored three half-centuries and is the Titans’ second-highest run-scorer. Overall, the man from Piet Retief who has played five T20 internationals for South Africa did enough to also take away the Players’ Player of the Year award as well as the overall Player of the Year honour.

The Sunfoil Series player of the tournament award was won by leg-spinner Shaun von Berg, who has been the leading wicket-taker with 28 at an average of 29, as well as making the only century by a Titans player in the competition this season – a blazing 105 off 73 balls against the Cobras in Benoni which broke Lance Klusener’s record for the fastest hundred by a franchise batsman.

The Titans were hugely boosted by the presence of Pakistani mystery spinner Saeed Ajmal in the T20 Challenge and he proved his worth by taking 15 wickets in six matches at an average of 9.26 and an economy rate of 6.13. Ajmal was a worthy winner of the Titans T20 Challenge Player of the Tournament.

Perhaps the biggest strides made this season were by 23-year-old rookie Graeme van Buuren, who made runs in all formats and chipped in valuably with his slow left-arm spin in the limited-overs formats.

Van Buuren’s progress was recognised by both the Newcomer and Most Improved Player of the Year awards.

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.

Domestic four-day cricket seldom receives the attention it should, but Unlimited Titans coach Rob Walter said yesterday that their thrilling 32-run weekend victory over the Knights in their Sunfoil Series match at SuperSport Park was “the way cricket should be played”.

The Knights mounted a stirring run-chase on a great final day as they tried to chase down 435 and were on target as Gihahn Cloete and Rilee Rossouw blazed hundreds.

After 70 overs, the Knights looked as if they were cruising to victory on 287 for one, needing 148 runs off 36 overs with Cloete and Rossouw in full flight. But JP de Villiers removed both set batsmen and the second new ball then produced a remarkable collapse of six wickets for 18 runs in eight overs in the hands of David Wiese and Marchant de Lange.

A last-wicket stand of 43 between Malusi Siboto and Corne Dry revitalised the Knights before Wiese claimed the final wicket and a famous win at 5.25pm.

“That’s the way cricket should be played. We set up the game with the second new ball very much in mind, leaving us enough overs with it to make an impact, but I never thought it would have to make so much of an impact!

“I’m very excited by the win because it means a helluva lot, it speaks volumes for the culture within the team. We don’t have much to play for in terms of the competition, but we didn’t want to just rock up and play without any care.

“We showed great care and pride in our performance and, if the scoreboard had been switched off, someone watching would never have thought the score was 300 for two. There were a few overs when they really bossed us, but the intensity was amazing and awesome to see,” Walter told The Pretoria News yesterday.

While chasing 435 would normally be one of those flights of fancy that seldom occur in real life, conditions and the brilliance of Cloete and Rossouw had the Knights well on course.

“The pitch was very flat on the fourth day and never offered much of anything. Plus for [leg-spinner] Shaun von Berg to bowl to two left-handers like Cloete and Rossouw was tough. If two batsmen get in those conditions, then chasing six an over is quite easy, it’s very difficult to defend, especially with a short boundary at one end,” Walter explained.

De Lange was like Hagar The Horrible with the new ball, obtaining spiteful, awkward bounce at high pace and Walter said he was delighted the fast bowler was able to make such an impact in his first game for the Titans since November.

“I’m really happy for Marchant’s sake because it’s a reward for a lot of patience and hard work. He really wanted to play earlier, but he had to buy into the process. It’s not just about being physically fit, he had to earn his place. And it’s really exciting that he managed to produce that pace at 4.30pm on the last day of a four-day match,” Walter said.

Cloete received the man of the match award for his maiden century in the Sunfoil Series, but the honour should surely have gone to Wiese, who made important contributions of 45 and 31 not out with the bat and had match figures of six for 93 with the ball. He removed both openers in the Knights first innings, paving the way for their dismissal for just 218 and then claimed four for 18 with the second new ball in the dramatic finale.

“David is really starting to find his feet with the new ball, he’s got seriously good skill with it and can swing it both ways, as well as containing nicely too. His wickets with the new ball and his contributions with the bat at number seven make him a real all-rounder who provides such stability. We can rely on him,” Walter said.

Judging by the spirit shown this weekend, Titans fans can rely on their team going all out to end the season on a high with victory over the Warriors in their final match starting at Centurion on Thursday.

“It’ll be nice to win because three wins will be a 300% improvement on last season. We want to maintain the momentum of what we did this weekend,” Walter said.