Johannesburg – The Titans have waited to the last possible moment to launch their bid for a spot in the play-offs of the domestic One-Day Cup competition.
Having won their last two games to stay in contention, success or failure hinged on an all-important clash with the Warriors at Buffalo Park on Friday.
“We left ourselves with a must-win situation and it's sparked off a bit of energy,” Titans coach Rob Walters said.
“It's important now to keep the guys pepped up; we've got it all to play for tomorrow, so it's exciting.”
The equation for the Titans was relatively simple: win with a bonus point and qualify; win without a bonus point and then hope the Dolphins lose to the Cape Cobras or fail to win and they would be out of the competition.
The task for Walters' side had been made all the more difficult by the unavailability of captain Henry Davids and all-rounder David Wiese, who departed South African shores on Thursday and Friday respectively to join the Proteas camp in the UAE. Graeme van Buuren and Ethy Mbhalati would replace them in the Titans XI.
However, the Titans might well be catching the Warriors at a good time, given that the Eastern Cape side would be returning home after a deflating one-run loss to the Cobras on Wednesday night.
“Such close games like that you can't analyse too closely because there are such small margins, but one thing that we want to improve on is our starts,” said Warriors captain Davy Jacobs.
“We've been struggling all campaign with that, and we've probably reached the point where we'll be forced to look at some other options (at the top of the order), but we'll discuss that and see what we can come up with.”
The Warriors, who could finish anywhere from first to fourth depending on Friday's results, look likely to be without Christiaan Jonker after he picked up a niggle on Wednesday.
Jacobs suggested they would wait to find out more about Jonker's fitness before they made any other selection calls. – Sapa