Teams eager to get on with the game already

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

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

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

Four of the country’s franchises will start answering that question on Thursday when they clash in two first-class matches. At the Wanderers, the Lions are at home to the Titans, 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 T20 (CLT20) 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 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.

Petersen is not in action on Thursday because of a knee niggle he sustained while playing for Somerset in the off-season, Cook said. Neil McKenzie is also otherwise occupied. He is playing for the Barbados Tridents in the CLT20.

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 rested, Faf du Plessis busy in the CLT20, Morne Morkel out with a shoulder injury and Albie Morkel recovering from ankle surgery.

Jacques Rudolph, meanwhile, has made himself available for one-day 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 in seasons past 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.