Titans stars don’t scare Warriors
THE Warriors will be playing without fear when they host the intimidating Titans in their Ram Slam T20 encounter at Buffalo Park tonight.
A star-studded Titans team, featuring AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock, Farhaan Behardien, Aiden Markram, Albie Morkel, Lungi Ngidi and Junior Dala among others, will be looking to continue their great start to the competition.
Warriors captain Jon-Jon Smuts is not overawed and is in fact looking forward to the match and will hope star players such as Christiaan Jonker, Colin Ingram and Colin Ackermann fire.
“For us it is a very exciting time. We are playing the Titans at Buffalo Park, a ground where we play very well and we want to match ourselves against the big players,” Smuts said.
“I want to see all our players bowl against AB de Villiers or face the Lungi Ngidis and Junior Dalas.
“I don’t want to say we have nothing to lose, but we can almost play without fear.
“We know that when we play like that it brings the best out of us and that’s when we get exciting.”
The Titans are topping the log after two superb wins, a bonus point eight-wicket victory over the Lions on Sunday and thumping 38-run win over the Knights on Wednesday night.
“I watched the Warriors game against the Knights and, although they lost, I thought they were very unlucky,” Titans coach Mark Boucher said.
“We have a lot of respect for them. We played them in two finals last season in the white ball game and they were very competitive, so it will be a good game of cricket and played in a good spirit.”
With some very poor weather having blanketed the city the whole week, it has been forecast that it will clear up by this afternoon, which should allow for a full game of cricket.
“I have heard the weather is clearing up for Friday, and I understand the weather situation very well in East London so the guys will be prepared for it,” Boucher said.
“I think the people of East London will be itching to see a nice game of cricket with a lot of good players involved so I am looking forward to it.”
The action kicks off at 6pm and tickets can be purchased at the Buffalo Park ticket office throughout the day or online at TicketPro for R60 for adults and R30 for scholars and pensioners.