Can the bizhub Highveld Lions grab an unlikely victory against the Multiply Titans on Wednesday evening at the Wanderers?
Wednesday evening’s televised match will see the second trans-Jukskei derby of the season as the bizhub Highveld Lions welcome the unbeaten Multiply Titans to the Wanderers.
Traditionally a high-scoring ground, fans at the Bullring are in for an absolute treat as two of the best batting sides in the competition go head to head.
Lions vs Titans | Wednesday 28 November | The Wanderers, Johannesburg | 18:00
To Win Match
Highveld Lions 2/1 | Tie 35/1 | Multiply Titans 37/100
bizhub Highveld Lions
The Lions would have been confident of defending their 182 against the then winless Warriors at Newlands last weekend. A Colin Ingram masterclass along with some pretty average bowling from the likes of Beuran Hendricks and Wiaan Mulder saw the Eastern Cape franchise canter home with an over to spare.
Mulder’s three overs cost his side 39 runs while Hendricks was taken for 50 in his four. They simply can’t afford to miss their lengths at all against an absolute gun top order. The latter has had a bit of a nightmare season thus far with a tournament economy of 11.55 with only one wicket to his name. Not ideal when you’re looking to establish yourself in the South African T20 set-up.
Where some of the other bowlers have battled, Kagiso Rabada has been excellent. The young gun has bagged eight wickets in five matches with a tournament economy of 6.70. Simply sensational stuff from the St. Stithians old boy.
You really can’t talk about this Lions side without mentioning Reeza Hendricks. He’s done this season what JJ Smuts did last, piling on the runs and pushing for a place in the T20 side going into the South African summer. He was at his brilliant best against the Warriors last week as he blitzed a 63-ball 81. He’s also bagged himself a century this term against the Hollywoodbets Dolphins up in Potch.
His partnership at the top of the order with Rassie van der Dussen will be key. The opening duo need to hang around and get the hosts off to a quick start taking the pressure off of the middle order who’ve not really impressed consistently since the start of the tournament.
Multiply Titans
Simply put, the Titans have been unstoppable this season. They’ve cruised to win after win without really having to get out of second gear. You feel that they’ll have no real issue contending with the Lions this weekend either on a deck that is likely to suit their top order perfectly.
There’s also the fact that they’ve won each of their last five T20 matches against Wednesday evening’s opposition – with most of those coming fairly comfortably. We could start seeing Mark Boucher rotate his squad a bit now with such a comfortable lead atop the standings.
Even so, resting the likes of Aiden Markram and AB de Villiers would see experienced campaigners (who have won just about everything at this level) come into the side. There aren’t any teams in the country that Heino Kuhn and Heinrich Klaasen, David Wiese, Dean Elgar and Shaun von Berg wouldn’t walk into yet these guys can’t get a game for the Pretoria franchise.
Looking ahead to the Wednesday fixture, I expect to see a full-strength side take the field. Boucher isn’t one for sentiment and won’t risk dropping points just give a couple of players a run. Expect Markram and de Villiers to get the bulk of the runs at the top of the innings as they’ve been doing throughout the course of the tournament.
We could even see Elgar come in for de Kock who hasn’t been in the best of form domestically. Elgar has played once this season, grabbing himself a tidy 25-ball 34. De Kock on the other hand slogged his way to 39 in the first match of the season before being dismissed cheaply in all of his matches thereafter.
The above change would of course necessitate another, with either Kuhn or Klaasen coming in to play behind the stumps. The other option here is to have de Villiers take the gloves – whether or not he’s willing is a differnet story.
Verdict: Multiply Titans 37/100
You simply bet can’t be against the Titans adding grabbing yet another victory on Wednesday. They’ve won every single one of their games – barring one washout – comfortably and are tipped to do so again against their neighbours.
