Cobras continue pursuit of silverware
by Jason Humphries 08 February 2012, 10:37
The Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras' relentless pursuit of silverware continues on Thursday as the Western Cape franchise eye a third consecutive SuperSport Series title when they take on the bizhub Highveld Lions in Johannesburg.
The Cobras have established themselves as something of a title-winning machine in recent years and they are the current champions of all three of South Africa’s domestic competitions.
Last year the Cobras, under the guidance of coach Richard Pybus, won the four-day SuperSport Series and the Standard Bank Pro20, while their good form continued this season when they won the 50-over 1-Day Cup.
However, their pursuit of a third consecutive SuperSport Series title is far from simple as they hold a very slim 0.68 point lead over the Nashua Titans heading into the last round of matches in this season’s competition.
But Pybus, the most successful coach in South African domestic cricket since the advent of the franchise system having won six titles in four seasons with the Titans and three with the Cobras since joining the team in July 2010, said that the winning culture surrounding the Cobras would hopefully help them to get over the line against the Lions.
“We have got some hugely experienced cricketers in the team and the ability of the team to play big points has been tested,” Pybus told SuperSport.com.
“The Titans will not want to get things wrong, now is not the time to make mistakes. We have prepared well for the game and we have got some combinations back so the squad is more settled,” he added.
The Titans will be playing against the Sunfoil Dolphins in Centurion but Pybus said that his team would not let themselves be affected by what was happening down the road from them.
One aspect of the Cobras’ recent success, which has made life more difficult for them, is that a number of their players have been called up to the national squad throughout the course of the season.
JP Duminy, Justin Ontong, Robin Peterson and Richard Levi will miss the match against the Lions as they will be travelling to New Zealand with the Proteas’ twenty20 squad, but the Cobras will be able to call on the services of Mark Boucher, Vernon Philander and a fit-again Rory Kleinveldt.
“It’s been a fascinating competition and it has been quite a challenge. We’ve had lots of call-ups (to the national squad) but I must commend the players for retaining their focus,” said Pybus.
The Cobras will be hoping that the Lions have lost a touch of their focus after their tilt at the SuperSport Series was ended after a draw against the Dolphins in their last game but Pybus will be taking nothing for granted.
“The Lions have played some fantastic cricket in the second part of the season and they have a well balanced squad with experienced players like (Neil) McKenzie and (Zander) De Bruyn as well as some exciting youngsters.
“We need to worry about our controllables. Where the Lions are is outside our control,” he concluded.