Time for cricket teams to test their mettle

As the domestic season opens, franchises will find out how good they are where it counts — on the field of play

“YOU can only have so much preseason; now it’s time to play,” Lions captain Stephen Cook said yesterday, on the eve of SA’s domestic season.

Damn straight. The field of play and not the nets, gym, dressing room or committee room — nor indeed in the pages of newspapers — is where teams find out how good they are.

Four of the country’s franchises will start answering that question today when they clash in two firstclass matches. The Lions are at home to the Titans in Johannesburg at the Wanderers, while the Knights and Warriors meet in Bloemfontein.

The Cobras and the Dolphins are absent with official leave because of their involvement in the Champions League Twenty20 in India.

Cook’s men won just two of their 10 matches last season and finished at the bottom of the log. “It’s been a big learning curve,” he admitted. “We’ve had to correct a few things and tighten up in a few areas.”

The Lions will not be helped by Imran Tahir’s move to the Dolphins, while those who were planning to keep an eye on events in Johannesburg to see how hard Alviro Petersen fights to keep his place in the SA side — he has not scored a century in 23 Test innings — will have to suspend their curiosity for now.

Petersen will not be in action today because of a knee niggle he sustained while playing for Somer-

It’s been a big learning curve. We’ve had to correct a few things and tighten up in a few areas

set in the off-season, Cook said.

Neil McKenzie is also otherwise occupied. He is playing for the Barbados Tridents in the Champions League Twenty20.

But Cook was determined to keep his focus on the bigger picture: “I’m not interested in only winning a trophy this season. I want to create a sustainable culture, and that culture needs to overreach the personnel.”

That said, Cook will not be unhappy that the Titans are also depleted, what with AB de Villiers being rested, Faf du Plessis busy in the Champions League Twenty20, Morné Morkel out with a shoulder injury and Albie Morkel recovering from ankle surgery.

Jacques Rudolph, meanwhile, has made himself available for oneday matches exclusively, to concentrate on his performance in that format in a bid to make SA’s squad for the 2015 World Cup.

However, some of the Titans’ slack will be picked up by Dean Elgar, who is due to play his first game for his new team after leaving the Knights.

“He’s a Test player and an experienced player so losing him does leave a hole, but that’s life,” Knights coach Sarel Cilliers said. “You don’t replace guys like that easily, but we have a core of players who have the opportunity to do so.”

Werner Coetsee, who captained the Knights in four matches at the end of last season, is at the helm from the start this time.

Ranged against him is Colin Ingram, who has led the Warriors four times and is their appointed skipper for the first time.

The Knights finished second to the Cobras last season, and they were the only team to beat the champions — twice. Can they go one place better this summer?

“All the batsmen have spent time in the middle during our pre-season — four centuries were scored — and the bowlers have clocked some overs,” was all Cilliers would say.

In other words, the time for talking is over. Get out there already.