导出博客文章South Africas silly season starts on Friday and not just because its the final
of the franchise T20 competition. December 16 is a public holiday and its timing
- nine days before Christmas - allows it to serve as a marker for the start of
the festive break. Its when summer is at its sexiest with blue skies, braais and
temperatures touching 30 degrees throughout the country.From next year, if all
goes to plan, it will be the day South Africas new city-based, eight-team T20
extravaganza concludes. The franchise twenty-over trophy will still exist but
could lose profile, so the Titans and the Warriors have the chance to make the
last big splash.They ended first and second on the table respectively - although
Warriors had to win a playoff to secure their spot in the final - and according
to Titans coach Mark Boucher, it will be a fitting end to a hard-fought
tournament. Whichever way it goes, whoever picks up a trophy tomorrow, both
sides will say they are the deserved winners. Both teams have played good
cricket over the whole competition, he said.Heres how things shape up:The
teamsTitans are under a new coach after Rob Walter left for New Zealand, but the
transition to Boucher was seamless. They top the first-class points table at the
halfway stage and finished top after the group stages of the T20 Challenge, with
seven wins from 10 matches. They have a good mix of experience, led by Albie
Morkel, Farhaan Behardien and Tabraiz Shamsi, and exciting youngsters to
complete a well-balanced line-up. The successful teams that I was privileged
enough to play in, the teams sort of ran itself with a strong core of senior
players. Thats no different in this dressing room. Its no use having one captain
in the side, youve got to have a couple of guys who are playing leadership roles
and thats something thats a strength of ours, Boucher said.Warriors, on the
other hand have underwhelmed for several seasons. Theyve struggled to hold on to
big-name players but have started to find some consistency in Malibongwe Maketas
second full season in charge. They lie third on the first-class points table - a
focus for them because Maketa believes if you nail your four-day skills, you can
always transfer them to the other competitions, and had big wins in the T20
competition to finish second, with six wins. Its exciting. Its almost like the
first final exam with the work weve put in over the last 18 months. There will
be pressure because its a final but we trust our skills and our processes,
Maketa said.The captainsAlbie Morkel was asked to captain the Titans in T20s
last season and Boucher has kept him in that role. Morkel has performed his
usual all-round role in the side, provided crucial lower-order runs and has been
one of their most dependable bowlers.JJ Smuts took over from Colin Ingram for
this season, and it seems the captaincy brings the best out of him, according to
Morkel. Smuts leads the competitions run-charts with 355 runs at 44.37,
including a hundred and a fifty.The coachesBoucher is from the Eastern Cape and
began his career at Border - one of the two provincial sides that feed into the
Warriors franchise - but his only coaching experience is with Titans. They
head-hunted him for the post and so far, he seems a natural fit. Ive always said
that I want to try and be a coach the players would like to have. If I was a
player, I would like to be the coach that I would like for myself, Boucher
said.Maketa played his cricket at Border but began his coaching career at
Titans. He served as assistant coach to Richard Pybus and Matthew Maynard. He
was also coach of provincial side Northerns and took them to a List A and T20
cup, before returning to his home team. For Maketa, reaching this final is about
coming full circle. Ill always be grateful for the opportunity I was given here.
To come here and win would be really special for me in the sense that my
coaching was grounded here, he saidTop performersBehardien has been the Titans
stand-out batsman and lies fourth overall in the run charts with three fifties.
Morkel said he has never seen him bat better than he is now. Ive always known he
has got that talent. He is a guy that strikes the ball cleanly and he gets good
opportunities now. When he plays for South Africa, he often bats at No. 7 where
it might be a little bit low and you just see glimpses of what we can do. Here
with us, he has got a real senior role, batting at No. 5. He closes out games
and he has taken that responsibility.Titans bowling successes have been shared
between their fairly young trio of Malusi Siboto, Junior Dala and Lungi Ngidi.
Their collective effort has pleased their coach: Their skill levels are pretty
high. They are also completely different bowlers and offer different variations.
Their attitudes have been fantastic. With a bit of attitude and a little bit of
talent, you can go a long way, he said. Apart from Smuts, Warriors also have
Ingram and Christiaan Jonker in the top ten run-scorers and have entrusted their
more experienced players with the responsibility of securing wins. Weve had a
good culture change under Malibongwe. The Warriors have always had players in
the top batting and bowling statistics, but weve probably not finished games off
as senior players. This year what weve stressed is for senior players to go out
there and win the game for the team, Smuts said.They also have the second
highest wicket-taker in their ranks, Andrew Birch, who missed out on the
qualifier to make room for Kyle Abbott. How to make room for Birch will be their
biggest conundrum ahead of the final. To leave out a player of Birchs calibre is
heartbreaking but I have to balance the team and that was the best-balanced team
we could take on the field with our international players available. Thats how
the cookie crumbled, Maketa said, but hinted Birch may be brought back. Ive
looked at his record and hes put on some special performances at this ground.The
conditionsRuns aplenty predicted the home captain, Morkel, who played down any
advantage his team may get from a flat Centurion track. In terms of home ground
advantage, I dont think it will play such a big role anymore. Players play so
many games around the world and in different conditions so for me, home ground
advantage is sort of something that has gone out of the window, he said.Head to
HeadBoth teams split their two games in the group stages. Warriors were
victorious in their first meeting on December 2 at SuperSport Park, chasing down
148 with seven balls to spare. Andrew Birch took 5 for 16 and the two Colins -
Ingram and Ackermann - scored a half-century each. Titans got their own back in
the final league match on Sunday , which was reduced to a five-over shootout.
Farhaan Behardiens 55 off 15 balls saw them pile on 80. Warriors made a good
fist of the chase but fell short by just six runs.HistoryTitans are the most
successful outfit in the system with 11 trophies - two shared - and are the
defending champions of this tournament. They regularly produce national players,
the latest being new Test squad member, Theunis de Bruyn whose career started
with the Titans before he moved to Knights.Warriors only successes in the
franchise system came in both limited-overs competitions in 2009-10, under
current national coach Russell Domingo. The following summer, 2010-11, they
reached the T20 final but have waited five seasons before reaching another. This
season, they have operated primarily without international stars.
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