Boucher urges his big guns to fire in ‘final’

The defending champion Titans may be heading into the final round of Sunfoil Series matches starting today at the top of the log by 2.38 points, but coach Mark Boucher, ever the perfectionist, is feeling a little impoverished when it comes to the amount of runs his team have scored.

Heading into the title decider against the Warriors at Willowmoore Park in Benoni, there are only two Titans batsmen – Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen (right) – in the top-20 of the aver- ages. They are the only two averaging more than 40.

“We haven’t played to our full potential yet and even though we showed great character last weekend in beating the Dolphins, there are still some concerns, in particular we are not scoring the runs we need to. But a tight win like that sometimes nudges the team in the right direction and I’m hoping for that.

“This is our final and I hope our big players step up. If we can get to 80 or 90% of our ability then I have no doubt that we can get a positive result this weekend. There’s still a lot of pride at stake for the Warriors and I wouldn’t want it any other way than to play them at their best for the title. Being out of contention will maybe free them up, while because it is a final for us, we’ll be under pressure, but we look forward to that,” Boucher told The Citizen.

Klaasen’s magnificent 195 that gave the Titans a crucial 102-run first-innings lead over the Dolphins in Pietermaritzburg could well be the defining innings of their campaign, alongside the partnership of 150 for the seventh wicket he shared with Shaun von Berg (54).

Boucher said the 25-year-old Klaasen reminds him of a certain cricketer from the village of Campsie in Sydney.

“Heinrich is a very intelligent cricketer – beyond his years – and although he has a strange technique, it’s very sound.

‘‘He’s honest and open in his head about his own flaws and plays to his limitations, which is a sign of an international-class batsman. ‘He’s a bit like a Steve Waugh or a Graeme Smith, I see the same sort of character in him, he’s hungry and his intensity is good. He’s really come of age,” Boucher, not one for extravagant praise, said.