JOHANNESBURG - Cape Cobras coach Ashwell Prince believes there is no reason for his side to fear the Titans ahead of their important Ram Slam T20 Challenge encounter at Newlands in Cape Town on Friday.
The defending champions have looked invincible so far in the competition, sweeping away everything in their way to lead the standings with 32 points – and secure a home semi-final with plenty of games remaining.
The only thing that has stopped the Titans has been rain after two washed out games, but they have won all the other six, almost all of them convincingly.
“As far as we’re concerned nobody is invincible,” said Prince. “We believe we can stop them and it’s important to stop them tomorrow.
“We need to win to try and reach the semi-finals, we’re at home and we have to go away on Sunday to the Warriors, who may well be needing a win to get through. So hopefully we can get the job done and hopefully we’ll peak at the right time of the season.”
Let's get 10 000 people packed into @NewlandsCricket on Friday as @CobrasCricket look to edge closer to a @T20Challenge home semi-final pic.twitter.com/9dHLoOUfMV
— David Brooke (@BrookeBack13) December 6, 2017
The calculators will be out this weekend as the regular season comes to a conclusion. With the Titans way ahead of everyone else, the other five teams are competing for three places to try and join them, with the Cobras leading the way in second after they beat the Knights in Kimberley on Wednesday.
They still need one more win to confirm their place and Prince added: “It was another good win and I think obviously it’s the points which are of big importance at this stage of the season.
“We managed to get them and it was also another close game which we managed to win. We spoke after the game and it was raised that we’re still not firing on all cylinders.
“We are getting over the line, and showing that character is important, but we’re leaving a good twenty to thirty percent in the bank there.”
In truth, the only concern for the Titans is complacency. However, coach Mark Boucher is not worried too much about any such thing creeping into his squad.
“I'm not worried at all because the momentum is all with us,” he said. “We’ve won every game bar one (against the Knights in the last game) convincingly.
“It’s more or less about how we prepare, and if we’ve done that properly and our intensity is good, I believe we can beat any side. Everyone knows that.
“We’ve basically given ourselves a right to prepare for a semi-final and that’s exactly what we’re going to be doing. If there’s a chance to rest a couple of guys, we’ll do that so we don’t have to travel-play and then travel-play again. So it’s more about planning.”
The Titans will end the league phase of the competition with a trip to the Dolphins in Durban on Sunday.