Publications
Partners
"Every team wants to get into the Champions League," Lions' captain Alviro Petersen said at the launch earlier this week.
"It was a such a memorable occasion for us, and we would like to do it again," he said.
The finalists from the Pro20 competition go through to the lucrative CLT20, and face teams from Australia, India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.
Petersen said his team relaxed a bit last year once they knew they had qualified for the Champions League, then lost the final to the Warriors. They would take a different approach this year.
"We learnt our lesson, and now we will just focus on one game at a time and not look too far ahead," he said.
Knights' captain Ryan McLaren agreed that every team would like to play against their international rivals.
"It's a big incentive to play in the CLT20, and one or two good matches will stand you in good stead," said McLaren.
"Last year, the Pro20 was a bit disappointing for us, but we can take confidence from the MTN40 competition which we won earlier this year. It was a great collective effort and we hope we can carry it through to the Pro20," he said.
The season kicks off at Newlands on Friday, when the Cape Cobras face the Titans, last year's losing semifinalists.
"We were the stand-out franchise last season, but dropped five catches in the semifinals against the Lions. We hope not to repeat those kind of mistakes," said Titans' captain Jacques Rudolph.
"The Cobras have always been a respectable team, and it's a massive challenge for us to play at Newlands in the opening game," he said.
"We're all looking forward to it. The guys have trained really well and we're ready for it."
Rudolph said the players to watch out for this season were Mangaliso Mosehle and David Wiese, who have made some big scores.
Albie Morkel was also likely to feature, after missing out on selection for the Proteas.
Rudolph has three players doing duty with the 15-man World Cup squad, namely AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis and Morne Morkel.
The Warriors, who go into the competition as the favourites, play their first match on Sunday, also against the Titans, in East London.
The Warriors' confident captain, Garnet Kruger said they were eager for the season to start.
"We have a lot of depth at the Warriors, and last season we took things for granted a little bit," he said.
Kruger has five players away in the World Cup squad – Jacques Kallis, Johan Botha, Wayne Parnell, Colin Ingram and Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
"This year, we're aware the other franchises are going to put their best foot forward and we need to be on top of our game," he said.
Fixtures for this weekend:
Friday: Cape Cobras v Titans at Newlands, Cape Town
Sunday: Lions v Cape Cobras at the Wanderers, Johannesburg
Sunday: Warriors v Titans at Buffalo Park, East London.
