Fidelity Titans will be led by their skipper Robyn Searle as they travel to central South Africa to meet Recon Tactical Free State at the Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein.
The home side is fighting relegation, so they survive the chop for next season. As it stands, their chances do not look good. While in the One Day format, they have done better with 2 wins in the T20 competition, they have lost all their matches.
On a good note, FS will have their full strength side available as Maine Smit is back from the Africa Games in Accra, Ghana. She joins Yolandi Potgieter, Zintle Kula, Izel Cilliers, and Mignon van der Merwe in making the Free State side formidable.
Free State will also be hoping their SA u19 duo of Elandri Janse van Rensburg and Anica Swart come correct to help them with a win in one of the two fixtures.
The visiting side will be without their Proteas women players in Masabata Klaas, Eliz-Mari Marx, Sune Luus, and Anneke Bosch. Proteas skipper who on paper is under the Titans will not be making her debut just yet for the Tshwane based team.
The visitors will rely heavily on their skipper Robyn for runs, Robyn is one of the leading run scorers in One Day cricket along with Katie Prior and Simone Lourens. The welcomed return of Gandhi Jafta from the Africa Games is a boost for the Titans as she will assist Paulinah Mashishi in the spinners department. With no Masabata and Eliz-Mari, the new ball duties will be on Kay-Leigh Tapp.
The two sides met for the first time earlier on in the month, and the Titans won the historic T20 match, and FS won the 50 over fixture. That weekend was historic in South African cricket, as the Titans and Knights (Free State) were the first teams in women’s domestic cricket from South Africa to be shown on national television. The commentary of that match was poor, but women’s cricket development as a proper professional sport had moved forward nonetheless.
Free State has a chance to pull off an upset against the Titans. The Titans have not been consistent this season, and they are without their national team players, so they won’t be at their peak strength.
Four6Out 