Ken Borland

Momentum Multiply Titans coach Rivash Gobind said at the start of the season that it would take “40 days of good cricket” to win the 1st-Class Series, but this week the 51-day slog that is now known as the Pro20 Cup gets underway with a thrilling double-header at SuperSport Park on Friday.

The Titans take on the YesPlay Western Province Cobras at 6pm on Friday night, after the earlier match between defending champions Dafabet Warriors and the North-West Dragons (2pm). And, in an announcement that should ensure SuperSport Park is teeming with the youngsters who adore them, new Titans heroes Dewald Brevis, Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Donovan Ferreira should all be in action under the lights.

And Friday could also see the return of the blazing batting of Leus du Plooy, the Affies product returning to Titans cricket for the first time since 2018/19, and the mystery wrist-spin of the legendary Tabraiz Shamsi.

Tickets – at just R50 for both matches – are on sale at Ticketpro and ZARbet are giving away ten R1000 cash prizes, free beers and a double ticket for Melkfest in their various competitions. There will also be an autograph signing session after the Titans match.

“It’s great to have access to some proper quality cricketers who are at the cutting edge of global T20 cricket. They raise the standard of everyone else, so this week’s preparation has gone really good and we are ready to go,” Gobind said.

“Donovan Ferreira will be our captain, he has a fantastic cricket brain and I really enjoy his passion for the Titans franchise. And he’s a proper batter, as we saw when he made that four-day hundred against the Dolphins that helped get our season off to such a good start.

“It’s also going to be very exciting to see Dewald Brevis and Lhuan-dre Pretorius in action, they are youngsters themselves but they have attracted such a wonderful following of their own youngsters, who just love them.

“T20 is such a fast-paced game, so we want to bat with high intent, play front-foot cricket. Boundary intent is one of many numbers that the analysts measure these days, but the best batters are not just about power, they are also extremely efficient.

“In terms of our bowling, I want us to be the team that does not go away under pressure. People always say bowlers should expect to go for lots of runs in this format, but I don’t want us to have that mindset. We have some really effective bowlers and they should always win the battle in the end,” Gobind said.

The new Pro20 Cup sees the Division I and Division II teams combined into two pools, with the top four in each going through to the Super Eights. The final is set for November 14. So the Sky Blues want to be consistent, but they also want to be at the forefront of the innovation that is constantly changing the shortest format of cricket.

“We want to try and dominate, but we aren’t going to do that by playing run-of-the-mill cricket, we’re not going to stick to any of the cliches about the game. We want to challenge the thinking around T20, the best players do that.

“But consistency is also a thing in the T20 game and that’s what the Momentum Multiply Titans are striving for as well. It’s going to be a great challenge against the Cobras, but the positive is that we understand our conditions. Coastal teams have to adjust to the tempo when they come up here, strategically they need to make slight changes,” Gobind said.

Titans squad: Dewald Brevis, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Eathan Bosch, Beyers Swanepoel, Leus du Plooy, Keagan Lion-Cachet, Sinethemba Qeshile, Dayyaan Galiem, Tabraiz Shamsi, Junior Dala, Aphiwe Mnyanda, Donovan Ferreira, Lethabo Phahlamohlaka, Janco Smit.

The focus is on the big moments for our DP World Lions women’s team this weekend as they head to Bloemfontein to get the 2024/25 HollywoodBets ProSeries underway against the Free State Knights, with coach Shaun Pretorius saying all the hard work has been done in the pre-season and now it is all down to the execution.

The DP World Lions finished as runners-up in both the Pro50 and Pro20 competitions last season, so #ThePrideOfJozi are hungry to get over the line this season.

“The focus is on BMT, those big situations when we need to step up and show character, those times when our backs are against the wall,” Pretorius said.

“We’ve had quite a few warm-up games, including against the Titans and the Knights, as well as lots of middle sessions and some time in the classroom as well, where we went over our game-plans and KPIs. There’s been buy-in from the squad, all the hard work is done and the preparation has gone really well.

“We could not ask for better in terms of the facilities at the DP World Wanderers Stadium, so now it all comes down to the execution,” Pretorius said.

Pretorius is not a keen advertiser of his selections ahead of matches, and in terms of the squad he is taking to Bloemfontein, all he wanted to say was that there are a couple of injured players at present, for which they have good cover, and that there are very experienced players going to take on the Knights.

The hosts, meanwhile, will be without former Proteas captain Mignon van der Merwe (nee’ Du Preez), who is pregnant with twins. And our DP World Lions have good memories of their last visit to Bloemfontein, when they chased down 248 with 31 balls and six wickets to spare in the one-day game, and then won the T20 match by seven wickets with seven balls to spare.

“Mignon has obviously been a big run-scorer for the Knights, but we will not take anything lightly going there. Even though we won both games there last season, we still have to execute properly and be clinical in the different phases of the game. Free State still have Yolandi Potgieter and Izel Cilliers is back.

“I especially want our batters to try and manipulate spin bowling better, we need to score at a better strike-rate against the slow stuff. Against pace we are executing well,” Pretorius said.

CAPE ST FRANCIS, Eastern Cape – Dylan Naidoo is one golfer who certainly won’t be ill-prepared for the vagaries of the St Francis Links when the Vodacom Origins of Golf Sunshine Tour event gets underway there on Thursday, the 24-year-old winning the pro-am on Wednesday with partner Malcolm Subramony.

After a blustery, totally overcast first day which really tested the golfers, Wednesday was much calmer and the sun made a welcome appearance. So Naidoo feels he is well-prepared for whatever weather the professionals get over the next three days.

“Today was a lot more like the weather we’re expecting for the tournament proper, so playing well works in my favour a bit. We’re expecting the same wind direction and amount of wind,” Naidoo said.

“But the first round was really different and difficult. I didn’t play great, but thankfully my amateur Malcolm came through with a bunch of points.

“This course is a really good test of every part of your game. You have to be good off the tee, your game-management needs to be really on-point and my chipping and putting was really good.

“I’m looking forward to a good week and I’ve been playing well for a little while, since I got through the first stage of European Tour School Qualifying three weeks ago. In fact, in the last six months my game has been heading in a good direction and I’m quite happy with it,” Naidoo said.

The globetrotting golfer now has his very own piece of Vodacom Origins silverware to cherish and he says the series has been a great help for him and many others in his fledgling professional career.

“It’s been a great series for many years now. To have the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series through the winter is a real bonus because otherwise there are not a lot of tournaments for us to play in.

“And if you’re a young pro who hasn’t played a lot, then the series gives your game really good preparation for the tour. It’s an opportunity to learn how to be a better golfer. It’s always a great start to the year for us,” Naidoo said.

The Sharks, who had a bye on the opening weekend, get Round 2 of the United Rugby Championship underway as they take on Zebre in Parma on Friday night at 6.30pm, starting an overseas tour that coach Sean Everitt says will have passed muster if they can gather 10 points from the three matches.

After taking on Zebre, who gave powerful Leinster an almighty battle last weekend, the Sharks play Welsh side Dragons at Rodney Parade, before ending their tour in Dublin against Leinster. Not many teams beat the Irish giants at home, so Everitt is clearly targeting wins in their first two games and a couple of bonus points along the way.

“Zebre have a new coaching staff and are very attack-minded now. They did very well against Leinster and we are very wary of them,” Everitt said. “We obviously have certain things from last season we need to work on.

“We have sorted out our problems and we are a bit more aware now of what to expect, but we will be playing against teams with their full international complement.

“We know the breakdown will be unforgiving and that has been a focus of ours, and also being able to execute from set-piece.

“The goal is to come home with 10 points. The log was really jammed at the top last season, just one to three points separating the teams at the top, so bonus points are crucial,” Everitt said.

Captain Thomas du Toit was impressed with how the Zebre forwards stood up to the strong Leinster pack.

“They matched Leinster’s scrum very well, they have a lot of plays off their lineout and they are a good mauling side. We’re excited for the challenge, Zebre are obviously a new-look team and that makes them a bit unpredictable. But we are very well prepared,” tighthead prop Du Toit said.

The other matches involving South African sides this weekend see Edinburgh, who made short work of the Dragons last weekend, travel to Loftus Versfeld to take on the Bulls, who narrowly failed to win the URC crown last season, on Saturday at 2.30pm.

The defending champion Stormers open their campaign against Connacht, who beat them by a short head in Galway in February, in Stellenbosch on Saturday afternoon (2.30pm), while the Lions, who competed hard but ultimately fell short against the Bulls last weekend, have travelled to Swansea to take on the Ospreys at 7.35pm in the evening.