The group stage of the Ram Slam T20 tournament concludes in style on Sunday afternoon with two matches. One is a dead rubber but the other is very much a live game with everything on the line.
In the dead rubber the Titans will look to keep their mojo up ahead of next weekend’s final when they host the Knights in Benoni while in the live game the Warriors head to Johannesburg knowing that if they beat the Lions they will pip the defending champions Cape Cobras to the last semi-final place. A bonus point win will have them hosting the semi too.
While I respect the Knights and their record since they’ve been out of the tournament I’ve thought the Titans were the standout side in the event from before a ball was bowled and I’m not abandoning that thought now. You can make a case for the Knights being a big price but I’m not rushing to take the Titans on I must admit not even in a dead rubber.
With that in mind I’ll focus on the main game which is the televised game from Johannesburg. The Highveld Lions battled their way into a position to launch a qualification bid but that has royally fizzled out over the last three matches with them losing them all and in their last match in particular they looked a beaten side.
The Warriors have gone the other way. They turned up to play the Cape Cobras on Wednesday knowing they had to win their last three matches to make it into the semi-final. They are two wins down on that road thanks to a sensational last ball run chase against the Knights last time out and must be buzzing with confidence and good spirits going into this match.
The Lions have been competent with the ball throughout the tournament but they have lacked runs with the bat right from the start and that has rarely changed and that is a real concern for me here.
It could be that now they are out their batsmen relax and swing from the hip but this is a line up which is light with batsmen anyway so I don’t see that happening. Once again they will rely on their bowlers.
The Warriors look a much more balanced side at the minute and are winning matches with both the bat and the ball and the encouraging thing is their standout man Colin Ingram hasn’t really delivered in recent times. You’d think he’ll deliver soon given that he’s the class act in the side so that is another reason to have confidence in the Warriors here.
The Warriors won the reverse meeting between these two by 25 runs in Port Elizabeth a few weeks ago and given the difference in momentum and motivation the two sides have ahead of this match I have to side with them to complete the double over the Lions here.
Back Warriors to beat Lions for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Stan James
