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“It’s a great attack,” Rivash Gobind chirped as he finished reading the Titans’ team sheet for Thursday’s opening first-class clash with the Dolphins at SuperSport Park.The visitors from Durban will, among the Titans’ six-pronged attack, confront Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi and Simon Harmer. That’s a combined 216 Test wickets between Jansen and Ngidi, should Kagiso Rabada be absent from the Australia series. Jansen and Ngidi could take the new ball, while off-spinner Harmer last year bowled South Africa to a historic series win in India.The Dolphins will counter with Keshav Maharaj, who has 218 Test wickets.It makes for a dream start to a revamped first-class competition, which is longer and will test players in a manner provincial coaches believe will improve standards across the board. Shukri Conrad has instructed all the nationally contracted players to don their provincial caps for at least one of the first two four-day matches of the season. Western Province will have Kyle Verreynne and in-form David Bedingham back from their stints with their respective clubs in the English County Championship. They will face the Warriors, who should have Tristan Stubbs in the mix at Newlands.At the Wanderers, where the Lions face Boland, Temba Bavuma, Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder will start their season with a focus on preparing for the tougher international battles in the summer. Gobind said the impact of the national players had proved invaluable at the start of the season. ”To their credit, it’s not like they just come in and play a game. They are very committed to training. They are well assimilated in the group. There is no hierarchy when it comes to them.“Lungi has been a tremendous assistance to me with the bowlers. The experience he brings, the way he conveys messages, we have given him a role to take the younger guys under his wing. “He’s done that brilliantly,” Gobind said.The Titans coach said there was no mandate from the Proteas on how many overs the fast bowlers could bowl. In the past, the national team has stipulated that the quick bowlers can bowl only a certain number of overs in a day or session and even specified the number of spells they must deliver. “There’s been nothing like that. We won’t be irresponsible. We know what awaits them this season. Also, I don’t know how it will be possible to tell Marco or Lungi not to bowl if the game is on the line.”Gobind has even had time to joke with his lanky left-arm seamer. “His brother [Duan] has really enjoyed this space. The other day I challenged [Marco] by telling him, ‘your brother has a five-for for the Titans, and you haven’t, and you need to catch up.’” The Titans are certainly not short of bowling options, with Dayyaan Galiem, Junior Dala and Beyers Swanepoel in the starting team. The latter is subject to a disciplinary process by Cricket SA, which has dragged on since the end of last season. Cricket SA charged Swanepoel with a Level 4 breach of their disciplinary code after he left last season’s One-Day Cup final before it had finished. While Swanepoel’s former employers, the Lions, immediately tore up his contract, Cricket SA’s proceedings appear far from complete, and the Titans, who signed Swanepoel in the off-season, had no reason not to include him to start on Thursday. Their bowling line-up will have to provide the ballast against a fragile-looking batting line-up that includes 19-year-old Lethabo Phahlamohlaka, who will bat at No 3. Opener Tshepang Dithole, signed from the Dolphins, will open the batting alongside Keegan Petersen, while Keagan Lion-Cachet and Donovan Ferreira have been tasked with important roles in the middle order. Titans XI: Tshepang Dithole, Keagan Petersen, Lethabo Phahlamohlaka, Keagan Lion-Cachet, Donovan Ferreira, Dayyaan Galiem, Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Beyers Swanepoel, Junior Dala, Lungi NgidiFixtures - Division 1: Titans vs Dolphins, SuperSport Park; Lions vs Boland, Wanderers; Western Province vs Warriors, Newlands; North West vs Free State, Bloemfontein
