Boucher believes that his Titans can be untouchable if they give 100%
JOHANNESBURG: The Titans wrapped up training for their T20 Challenge semi-final yesterday content that they’ve prepared in the best way possible and ready to resume dominating the tournament in the way they had before successive defeats at the end of the competition’s round-robin phase.
There had been question marks about the team put out by the defending champions and the performance put in against the Dolphins last Sunday but both coach Mark Boucher and captain Albie Morkel are content that the players are in a good space ahead of today’s semi-final at SuperSport Park against the Warriors.
“We put out teams to try and get through to the semis and once we achieved that, (we put out) teams that we still thought could win and compete, but that didn’t happen,” Boucher said about the Titans teams that lost to the Cape Cobras and Dolphins.
“Also we took into account the weather in Durban, I didn’t want guys to be in Cape Town, travel, play, then travel, and have one day to prepare for this semi-final. We were in a position, to prepare in our conditions, for a game at home, and have a day off in between, so we come into the semi-final fresh and that’s what I did.”
As for any momentum that may have been lost following an eight-match unbeaten run being halted by those last two defeats, neither Boucher nor Morkel are concerned.
“People might think we lost momentum; the game in Cape Town, we never scored enough runs, but we could’ve and should’ve won it with the ball. On Sunday we played a completely new team,” said Morkel. “I don’t think (the defeats) will have any bearing on how we play, it’s a new game, a semi-final, we’ll pick what we think is our strongest XI, and if you can’t get up for that game, there is something wrong with you. We’ve lost our last two yes, but we’ve played some fantastic cricket this season, so we want to take our good performances out of that into the game on Wednesday.”
The Titans clearly think that their best XI, for the semifinal, doesn’t need Dale Steyn, who according to Boucher will continue his training – to get more overs in his legs – ahead of matches against Zimbabwe, India and Australia.
Such is the Titans’ depth though that Morne Morkel, who played his first game back last Sunday since tearing an abdominal muscle in the first Test against Bangladesh at the start of October, is included in the Titans’ squad in Steyn’s absence – which doesn’t exactly weaken their line-up. “Morne came back and really hit his traps in the first game he played,” said Boucher.
The Titans have also been bolstered by a significantly stronger batting line-up that includes AB de Villiers, and while respectful of the recent run of the Warriors the Titans are extremely confident of contesting the final.
“They are a streetwise team, we understand that, we respect they have some great players, but we are more worried about what we do on the day, how we execute ... if we rock up and play to 100 percent of our ability then there shouldn’t be a team that competes with us,” Boucher said.