Morris adds spice to derby
The return of Chris Morris to his former home ground will add further spice to an already tasty derby clash between the Highveld Lions and the Titans at the Wanderers today, with the hosts trying to make inroads into the big standings lead of the defending RamSlam T20 Challenge champions.
Morris last played on the Proteas’ tour to England in mid-year, where he suffered a stress fracture of the back, and the inclusion of the explosive all-rounder will obviously require some shuffling of the Titans’ resources in order to meet the transformation quotas of Cricket South Africa.
So coach Mark Boucher has decided to rest Aiden Markram, the player of their campaign thus far as he lies second in both the batting and bowling averages.
Heinrich Klaasen will also come in for Quinton de Kock behind the stumps and possibly as opening batsman alongside Dean Elgar, while the uncertainty surrounding the fitness of captain Albie Morkel – who is unwell – means either Shaun von Berg or David Wiese could get a run.
With the abandonment of their game last weekend against the Dolphins in Benoni, it means the Titans have not had an outing since hammering the Cape Cobras 10 days ago, but being refreshed mentally is obviously the watchword for Boucher.
“I see it as a blessing that we haven’t played for a while and we’ve had two good training days, we practice with intensity, we’ve trained a lot until pretty late, the guys have hit a lot of balls so we’re pretty comfortable.
“Some of the guys probably needed some time off.
“We also need to keep the guys mentally fresh, especially if we qualify for the semifinals, which is a one-off game. So we take the positives from the break and a couple of guys are raring to go and we’re in a very good space. But Aiden has played a helluva lot of cricket and has one or two minor niggles, and he needs a mental break too, and Quinton has been given the week off too,” Boucher said yesterday.
For the Lions, who are currently just hanging on to the last play-off spot on nett run-rate, the focus is on ensuring they win the big moments to get over the line after narrow losses in their last two games despite being in a dominant position.
“We’ve been playing good cricket at stages, but without closing out in the last few overs, it’s just crucial moments we haven’t capitalised on. We need to look at ourselves mentally and the decisions we make under pressure. We play well for 90% of games but we just don’t get over the line because of literally one over,” in-form opening batsman Rassie van der Dussen said.