Titans eager to bounce back against Dolphins

Cape Town - The Titans may have suffered a surprise first loss of the Sunfoil Series last weekend, but they still top the table ahead of their game against the Dolphins starting at Willowmoore Park in Benoni on Thursday.

The Titans went down by five wickets to the Knights in an astonishing game that lasted a little over two days in Bloemfontein.

That they bowled their opponents out for 76 in their first innings and still lost was confusing on its own and coach Rob Walter is hoping for a far better performance this week. "We had a bad day and a half against the Knights," the Titans coach said. "We didn’t bat or bowl well in the second innings, so the boys are eager to bounce back from that.

"But that said, we're still top of the log and we want to focus on going forward and not what has happened. Hopefully we'll be able to put a good performance in this weekend."

Their opponents from KwaZulu-Natal were frustrated by the rain as their clash against the Warriors in Pietermaritzburg was eventually abandoned on the final morning, without a ball being bowled.

"We were a bit frustrated that we didn’t get too much last week, but we're now looking forward to Benoni," Dolphins coach Lance Klusener said. "It's a tough team to face, the Titans, and in a place they play reasonably well. We'll have to be on top of our game to win there, but we believe we can and look forward to it.”

The draw last week has left the Dolphins fourth bottom on the standings and the coach acknowledges that they will need to beat the Titans this season if they want to have a shot at winning the title.

"If we want to win the competition, we're going to have to beat them once, if not twice this season," he added. "They may have had a bad game last week, but they've proven year in and year out what a quality outfit they are."

Regular captain Henry Davids is not yet fit to return for the Titans, with Qaasim Adams again expected to take his place.

The Dolphins have named their same squad, too, with fast bowler Craig Alexander the only addition to the list.