
With one win in Benoni already under their belts, the Titans will be looking to capitalise on homeground advantage when they take on the visiting Warriors in the only Supersport Series cricket match this weekend, starting on Thursday.
The defending champions comfortably dealt with the Cape Cobras well inside four days in their previous fixture at the ground, but they will expect tough competition from the Eastern Cape franchise who showed sound batting form in their opening match against the Highveld Lions last weekend.
Titans coach Chris van Noordwyk is expecting another good pitch at Willowmore Park and with the conditions likely to take spin as the match progresses, home captain Pierre Joubert will probably aim to bat first of the coin falls his way.
"Look, Benoni has been a good cricket wicket," said Van Noordwyk yesterday. "It offers the bowlers something, if you get in batting-wise you can make a decent score and it gives the spinners a chance on days three and four."
Significantly, it was national spinner Paul Harris who played the major role in Titans' victory over the Cobras with nine wickets in the match, six in the second innings.
Van Noordwyk has the option of adding legspinner Imran Tahir to the final XI, but he said yesterday he would be considering his choices and only make a decision on Thursday morning.
Warriors coach Russell Domingo was pleased with how his batsmen performed at Randjesfontein against the Lions - Arno Jacobs and Justin Kreusch hit centuries and Johan Botha made 88 - but acknowledged that the bowlers still had some work to do.
"We played nicely against the Lions but there are areas we need to improve, particularly in the bowling," Domingo said. "Makhaya (Ntini) and Lonwabo (Tsotsobe) haven't played much cricket and Wayne (Parnell) has been playing only limited overs stuff so it was good for them to get some decent spells under their belts.
"But we'll be looking for an improvement in that department this weekend." Domingo said he felt the Benoni pitch had become helpful to spinners in recent seasons but was confident they had the armoury to adapt to the situation.
"If there's a bit of grass we've got a decent pace attack and if there's turn, we have Johan Botha to fill that role," he said.
Sapa