Highveld Lions captain Stephen Cook has promised to select his strongest team to take on the Warriors at the Wanderers, even though they have the Sunfoil Series Trophy sewn up.
The Lions took a lead of almost 30 points by beating the Dolphins in Durban last weekend, and as a result cannot be caught.
But Cook says they won’t take a step back. ‘We remember this time last year when we were having some dark days and looking for any sort of result. We don’t want to slip into any bad habits that could harm us moving forward as a team.
‘In theory we could make a few changes and give opportunities to a few others, but we’re going to stick to our strongest XI and continue in the same vein.’
The Warriors, though still involved in a basement battle for the wooden spoon, are looking at consolidating the squad for the next season.
Coach Malibongwe Maketa said: ‘The majority of the guys are the players we want to go forward with, so we want them to play as a unit as much as possible.’
Titans v Knights, Centurion
The Titans will be without last week’s double-centurion, Dean Elgar, as they go hunting for second spot on the log, behind the rampant Lions.
Elgar was forced to retire hurt on 208 on Sunday after being hit on the head by a Dane Paterson bouncer, and has been diagnosed with mild concussion.
‘Once we knew that we were out of the running for the trophy, we set our sights on hitting second place,’ said coach Rob Walter. ‘From our point of view it’s definitely not a case of having nothing to play for.’
The Titans are 12.16 points behind the Dolphins, so they would need other results to go their way.
Dolphins v Cape Cobras, Pietermaritzburg
The Cape Cobras will have their eyes on a couple of individual milestones – not to mention the goal of avoiding the Sunfoil Series wooden spoon.
‘There’s still something to gain out of this competition – Dane Paterson is right up there with the leading wicket-takers and we’d like to make sure he finishes top of the wicket tally, and Omphile Ramela is up there with the leading run-scorers and it would be a great achievement to finish in the top three,’ said captain Justin Ontong.
Paterson is top of the charts alongside Andrew Birch with 35 wickets, while Ramela is third on the run-scoring table with 710 runs at an average of 50 after his double-ton last week.
HOW THEY STAND
| M | W | L | D | Pts | |
| Lions | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 133.42 |
| Dolphins | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 103.86 |
| Titans | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 91.70 |
| Knights | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 78.86 |
| Warriors | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 67.48 |
| Cobras | 9 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 66.26 |
MOST RUNS
| Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Aver | |
| Stephen Cook | 16 | 3 | 889 | 152 | 68.38 |
| Colin Ingram | 17 | 3 | 792 | 131* | 56.57 |
| Omphile Ramela | 15 | 1 | 710 | 202* | 50.71 |
| Pite van Biljon | 13 | 1 | 689 | 175 | 57.41 |
| Roloef van der Merwe | 15 | 2 | 685 | 205* | 52.69 |
MOST WICKETS
| Overs | Runs | Wkts | BB | Aver | |
| Dane Paterson | 270.1 | 827 | 35 | 5-60 | 23.62 |
| Andrew Birch | 292.0 | 863 | 35 | 5-43 | 24.6 |
| Kagiso Rabada | 247.0 | 737 | 34 | 9-33 | 21.67 |
| Rowan Richards | 273.1 | 916 | 34 | 5-31 | 26.94 |
| Keshav Maharaj | 310.4 | 890 | 32 | 6-58 | 27.81 |
