JOHANNESBURG – Titans skipper Henry Davids believes the teams will be evenly matched when his side travel to East London on Wednesday for the Ram Slam T20 Challenge qualifying playoff against the Warriors.
The Titans bullied their way into the playoff game, for a place in Sunday's final against the Highveld Lions, with four successive wins to complete their round robin campaign.
“It's a semi-final, so there are no favourites,” Davids said on Monday.
“I just think it's going to come down to the team that does the basics and the small things well on the day.
“And obviously in a format like T20, whichever team handles the pressure best will have the best chance.”
The return of Proteas paceman Morne Morkel has given the defending champions a boost, and his five wickets in the final two games of the first round came at a cost of just five runs per over.
“It helps a heck of a lot to get on a winning run like we have,” Davids said.
“The confidence we take into the game is obviously great, and as you know cricket is all about confidence.
“The good thing for us is that it hasn't just been a case of one or two individuals standing out.
“We've had a number of good team performances of late where guys have stood up in key situations, so it's been really pleasing.
“Most of the squad are in a great mind-set, and I think now we're just really looking forward to Wednesday's game.”
The Titans, however, will be without overseas professional Scott Styris, whose 143 runs in the competition came at an average of 47.66.
Styris was replaced in the squad by former Proteas top-order batsman Herschelle Gibbs for the playoff clash.
“Herschelle obviously brings so much to the camp with his experience and his explosiveness with the bat, and he's very good in the field, as everyone knows,” Davids said.
“He is an athlete, and his knowledge of the game is something the other guys can really learn from, and it's great to have him in the mix.”
The men from Centurion have largely endured a season to forget, going winless en route to finishing with the wooden spoon in the first-class Sunfoil Series, and being eliminated by the Cape Cobras in the semi-finals of the Momentum One-Day Cup.
Yet Davids believed such setbacks were all part of shaping the character of his squad, and he was convinced those experiences would stand them in good stead this week and in future seasons.
“The one-day season went fairly well, we just had one bad game which was in the semi-final,” he said.
“The Sunfoil Series obviously wasn't great. One must remember that we had a lot of players on South African duty who weren't available, so it left big gaps to fill.
“But I told the guys after the series was over that it was a very good thing for us because of what we went through.
“It was a big learning curve for so many of us, and it's something we can now improve on in coming seasons, and I think we have already started showing it in this T20 competition.” – Sapa