Ken Borland

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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.

Chartered accountant and Northerns Cricket Union treasurer Aniel Soma has been the man to steer Titans cricket through the difficult months following the tragic passing of long-time CEO Elise Lombard in August.

Although the franchise was understandably grieving the loss of the much-loved and highly-respected Lombard, someone needed to take over the reins with a Champions League to host and the new season about to start, and Soma stepped in as the acting chief executive.

“We didn’t drop any catches, so to speak, and the ship is running fine, it’s all in order. It’s about cricket and finance and I had big shoes to fill. The biggest challenge was maintaining the relationships with all our partners, but that’s bedded down now,” Soma says.

The quiet and unassuming Soma is steeped in cricket, having started playing when he was 13 and still representing Laudium Foresters when he was 50, and he admits to a nagging feeling of regret that he did not play more when he was younger. He was heavily involved in the development of Laudium as a Premier League ground, which also hosted matches during the 2005 Women’s World Cup.

Having studied BCom and BAcc degrees at Wits University, Soma did his articles at KPMG and has been a financial director since 1986, and is in his second stint as NCU treasurer.

Hailing from the agricultural town of Wallmansthal north of Pretoria, Soma was schooled in Marabastad and is passionate about sport in general.

“I love golf, I just don’t play enough. I do a lot of gyming and cycling these days and I’ve ridden three 94.7s and two Argus’s. I love soccer, which I played too, and I also enjoy watching rugby. Travelling is also something I enjoy,” he says.

Another interest is food and Soma has been in the restaurant business as well, his wife Preeya being a caterer.

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The Titans are busy developing tomorrow’s fans today with the introduction of their junior fan club.

On match days, a members’ area will be reserved exclusively for Titans Junior Fans at SuperSport Park. In addition, the first 10 members to arrive on the day stand a chance to meet and interview some of the Nashua Titans players.  And, as a Titans Fan Club member, if you buy two tickets you will get two tickets free.

Titans Fan Club membership is available for all primary school scholars from Grade 0 to Grade 7.

Henry Davids had a busy start to the season. In September he was appointed as the Nashua Titans’ new captain for the four-day Sunfoil Series and October saw him making an international name for himself as he finished as one of the top 5 run-scorers in the Champions League T20 extravaganza.

And the 32-year-old wouldn’t have it any other way. For Davids, playing cricket is chiefly for the sheer enjoyment of the game and, even if he gets knocked over early, he believes in playing with a smile on his face.

“My aim is to go out and enjoy myself and to win games for the Titans. I’m big on enjoying the game, that should stay the same whether you score nought or a hundred. Obviously you’re disappointed if you get out for a duck, but you must try not to show it,” Davids says.

Davids was born in Stellenbosch and made his first-class debut for Boland against the New Zealanders in Paarl in 2000/01 and played for the Cobras for six seasons before his career prospects became inert in the Cape and he moved up north to join the Titans in 2010. And he says he’s having the time of his life in Centurion.

“I was the leading run-scorer in the SuperSport Series in 2007/8 [817 @ 48.05] and I had a good season thereafter as well, before breaking my finger and tearing ligaments and then being dropped. I was very confused as to why I had been dropped, but I wasn’t really enjoying my cricket in Cape Town and there were a lot of things going on around the team.

“I was looking for a different challenge and the best cricketing decision was to come to the Titans, a very healthy and successful franchise. I got along with the guys very well and I’m enjoying my cricket the most now,” Davids says.

There has always been an air of adventure in Davids’ batting but, as a senior player now with nearly a hundred first-class games under his belt, he is intent on playing the percentages better.

“I concentrate a lot on the basics now. Anyone can play a cover-drive, but the most difficult thing is getting in and building an innings. To do that, you need to do the little things right,” he says.

Davids has recently also been contributing with some under-rated off-breaks, having been a quick bowler at school before suffering a stress fracture in his back. By then he had already established himself as a bright young batting star, having played in the CocaCola Khaya Majola Week for three years.

And the father of two girls admits that his talent has sometimes only flickered in franchise cricket.

“I’d still like to fulfil my full potential, I haven’t always done it justice in the past,” the scorer of 10 first-class centuries, four in List A and one in Twenty20, says.

But the burden of captaincy is certainly not increasing the pressure on Davids.

“I’ve only captained before at school and academy level, but I think I’ve learnt a lot about the game since my first-class debut in 2000. I guess my personality suits captaincy because I’m very calm and I don’t lose my temper. It’s a great challenge, but I love it. When Matthew Maynard [coach] spoke to me about being captain, he didn’t have to ask me twice. It’s an honour to captain a franchise with such a great history.”

The Davids family hail from the Cape Winelands town of Pniel and his father was a star of the Board leagues playing for the Coronation club.

“My dad was a wicketkeeper/opening batsman and, as a youngster, I thought I must just do the same. I started playing when I was six for the Coronation club’s U12 side,” Davids says.

And the diminutive batsman has had to overcome some early scarring to make it at first-class level.

“My first memory is playing on one of those coir mats, opening the batting  and getting hit on the head. I fell over on to the stumps as well … But I don’t get hit on the head a lot since then … the difference is I’ve learnt how to hook now,” Davids smiles.

A man of simple tastes, Davids says his family is his favourite hobby and his most valuable possession is his second daughter, Ashlyn, born on November 5.

“Being with my family is the best time of my life, I was brought up in a big family. I do enjoy the odd round of golf as well though … “ he says.

During that purple patch in 2007-2008, Davids played a couple of games for South Africa A, scoring a century against Sri Lanka A in Benoni, and he admits to still dreaming about playing international cricket, although he knows the chances are slim.

“Of course I still dream about it. The body’s still lasting, I’m in good nick, but I just want to go out and enjoy my cricket and win games for the Titans.”

After more than two months of limited-overs cricket, Davids is now turning his attention back to leading the Titans in the Sunfoil Series, beginning with a crunch game against the log-leading Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras in the Mother City from December 20. It will be a mammoth encounter between the defending champions and the team who won the competition the previous two seasons.

The Titans have had a lean time thus far in the competition, with just 13.32 points from a loss and a draw in their two matches.

But Davids is certain his team is up to the challenge of lifting themselves off the bottom of the log.

“We’ll just concentrate on getting the basics right and if we do that, we can beat any team. We’ve been playing in patches, we still haven’t hit our straps, but if we play to our full potential, then the sky’s the limit!”

Whatever other talents Nashua Titans coach Matthew Maynard may have, it is his powers of encouragement and motivation that have been to the fore lately as he has lifted his team from a humiliating opening defeat into a position of strength in the Momentum One-Day Cup.

The Titans have shrugged off their catastrophic 269-run loss at the hands of the bizhub Highveld Lions – the heaviest between two leading provincial sides in local history – to win their next two matches and rise to second on the log ahead of Friday’s match against the Sunfoil Dolphins in Durban.

And, as fast bowler CJ de Villiers revealed to Sapa on Wednesday, Maynard revived his team by telling them that nothing else they did this season could possibly be worse than their performance that dark day in Centurion.

“A lot of credit for our turnaround must go to the coach [Maynard]. Everyone was shellshocked, nobody knew where to put their heads. But the coach said this is the worst we’ll ever play and that lifted a lot of pressure off us. We know we’re a good team and it just takes one guy to lift us,” De Villiers said.

The lift came five days later in Benoni as a fine all-round team effort saw the Titans beat the defending champions Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras and they then hammered the Chevrolet Knights last weekend to climb into second on the log, 10 points behind the Lions, but with a game in hand.

The Titans will be eager to maintain the momentum and stay in touch with the Lions by beating the bottom-placed Dolphins on Friday, or else they run the risk of being overtaken by the Knights or Cobras in the race for second place and a home qualifier.

The team that tops the standings qualifies automatically to host the final.

Of course, given the recent weather in Durban it would be quite an achievement just to complete the game. The south-westerly wind has been consistently blowing rain up the coast and she also ensures the Sahara Stadium Kingsmead pitch retains a lot of its traditional spite.

While the Titans spinners have been their most effective bowlers in the competition thus far, De Villiers said the pacemen could make an impact in Durban on Friday.

“The last few games, we haven’t really fired as a fast bowling unit and we’ve been leaking runs in the first 20 overs. We’ve spoken about it and we will be looking to improve against the Dolphins. Our plans have been pretty good, it’s just a matter of executing them,” De Villiers said.

While the Lions attack, spearheaded by Titans discard Hardus Viljoen, have bowled their opposition out in all four of their matches thus far, De Villiers said the Northerns/Easterns combination could also take wickets through exerting pressure.

“If you put batsmen under pressure and hit good areas, then you will get wickets. You don’t want to be trying for miracle balls, good balls in the right areas are the ones that end up taking wickets,” the former Free Stater said.

The Dolphins season may have already gone awry due to a combination of bad weather and poor form, but De Villiers said the Titans would still be keeping an eye on quality players like Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Jonathan Vandiar (if fit), Cody Chetty, David Miller and Lonwabo Tsotsobe.