BACK IN THE DRIVING SEAT
Smuts will be the X-factor for Warriors in the Titanic battle
WARRIORS captain Jon-Jon Smuts makes a welcome return to the team as they take on the Titans in a crunch Sunfoil Series clash at Buffalo Park from today.
Smuts was unavailable for the hosts’ last match, their first loss of the season against the Dolphins in Port Elizabeth, after he was called up to the Proteas T20 squad for their series against India, and he will hope his return will inspire the team to what would be a big win against the tabletopping Titans.
“It is always good coming back to a team I have enjoyed playing for over the last 10 years and I am looking forward to the challenge over the next few days,” said Smuts.
“We are still well in the hunt in the competition and coming up against the top side we can hopefully put in good performance and see what we can get.
“It is going to be four tough days of cricket and we would like to finish it by getting one over the Titans.”
The only change to the Warriors squad from the previous match sees rising young Eastern Province talent Matthew Breetzke make way for the return of Smuts.
“We have had quite good continuity at the Warriors this season, most of the guys have been playing really well and they have been rewarded by the team not changing very much,” said Smuts.
Currently the Titans lead the log on 104.34 points, just shy of seven points ahead of the defending champions Knights in second, with the Warriors then third on 92.78 points, just 0.66 points ahead of the Dolphins in fourth.
With the Knights playing the bottom-of-the-table Lions at home and having a good chance to beat them, a loss for the Warriors this weekend could see them slip too far behind the top two teams with just two matches left in the season, one home and one away, after this.
Form players such as Gihahn Cloete, Colin Ackermann and Simon Harmer will need to come to the fore if they are to claim a good win over the competitions form team so far.
The Titans are yet to lose having picked up one win and six draws, while the Warriors have won one, lost one and drawn five.
“We don’t look at where other teams are, we just look at what we need to do, we know that we are a win away from getting near or even top of the table,” said Smuts.
“I think it’s not just that they home games, we have three games left in all and we would like to go into the last week knowing what we need to do, so that is very important for us.
“We have played some good cricket in East London over last few years and we want to continue that good form over the next four days.”
Today’s game gets under way at 10am.
Warriors squad: Eddie Moore, Gihahn Cloete, Jon-Jon Smuts (capt), Yaseen Vallie, Colin Ackermann, Lesiba Ngoepe, Clyde Fortuin, Andrew Birch, Aya Gqamane, Anrich Nortje, Lutho Sipamla, Simon Harmer, Tladi Bokako.
Other teams in action from today include the Dolphins v Cobras in Pietermaritzburg and the Knights v Lions in Kimberley.