Peter Kirtsen looks into Titans crystal ball (29 March 1999)

29 March 1999

Peter Kirtsen looks into Titans crystal ball

Trevor Chesterfield

CENTURION (South Africa) - Peter Kirsten is not the sort of coach who dwells too much on the past other than learn from the mistakes during a first summer of trial and error at Centurion Park and trophy to show for the hard work and aches and pains.

His idea is to plan ahead and what he plotting for Northerns next season is not so much from fancy crystal ball gazing as from what he knows can be achieved. The SuperSport Series trophy is what he would like to see placed in the cabinet next.

It is not an idle boast either. As he sees it the big thrust next summer, as we slip from one millennium to the next, and the first-class prize, which has eluded Northerns for 61 summers, but as he explained, "We are getting there".

Any review of a good season, however, also takes into account the positives and since the "Plan 2000" hiccuped into life four summers ago the idea of Northerns winning the A Section for the first time is neither wishful thinking nor reading a script from a fantasy land handout. After all, Northerns have twice won the Standard Bank League Trophy in two of the last three seasons and this achievement exploded more than a few myths.

There are a few on the outside envious of the team's limited-overs success and that of the union's executive planning strategy. As Kirsten indicates, however, it is time to move on.

"Winning a trophy means you have had a good season and the way it was won was also pleasing," he said yesterday. "Winning it with a game to spare was something in itself and I do not think the Northerns public are aware what it took to get us there.

"To fight back from average positions and win matches did much to help us get where we ended. While we did not dominate in all the games, except for two or three, to win seven out of 10 (one match was rained off) was a special achievement."

Now, however, the trust is for next season and to improve the areas which cost Northerns a place in the A Section final earlier this month. One is the batting which Kirsten admitted had been brittle for much of the series.

"Being blown out three times for under 150 in the first innings cost us three batting points and made it that much harder in the final three games," he explained. "We need to look at improving that area of our game."

What did not help was an in jury to Rudolf Steyn in late December and trying to fill his position through the remainder of the programme had not bean easy. Kirsten agreed there is a need to find a top-order batsman to fill in at berth No3. Next season there is also the quota system factor.

While players "of colour" may feel uncomfortable with the stigma of this label they now have the opportunity to show what can be done.

One important factor in Northerns stepping more confidently into the future has been the resurgence of Mark Davis into a top spin bowler who has the ability to earn high honours. Second in the national bowling averages this season, Davis proved a more than valuable component in a bowling attack which found its right balance during the second half of the campaign.

Initially the argument was for a four-pronged pace attack which meant a weakening of the Northerns batting and no place for Davis in the side. Brought back for the game against Griqualand West, Davis had moved on from the disappointment of his axing and with the attack now settled bowled with imagination and boldness.

This became evident in comments Free State's young batting genius Boeta Dippenaar relayed to Kirsten at Newlands during the South Africa President's XI match against England A. Dippenaar felt Davis had become a far more difficult bowler to score off this season. It showed, too, when he fell to Davis' cunning ploy of bowling around the wicket.

The fast and swing bowlers also felt that Davis bowling tightly at one end made their work load that much lighter and enabled them to knock over teams.

Clive Rice, a national selector, feels that had Northerns the batsmen to support "the finest bowling attack at domestic level" in South Africa, they would have won two of the three trophies on offer. Greg Smith, David Townsend, Pierre Joubert and Quentin Ferreira make up a potent bowling attack with the reliance on swing a more important factor than outright pace.

As Kirsten views it now, the spin talents of Davis and Quentin Still and later Jacques Rudolph add a new dimension to a bowling compliment that does not mention Steve Elworthy. And there are equally promising all-rounders in Johan Myburgh and Pierre de Bruyn.

It is, as Kirsten suggests, the depth Northerns have developed in the last five years, which is reason enough to feel that winning the four-day trophy is a strong possibility next season.

Source :: Trevor Chesterfield, Pretoria News