The following is a transcript from the Cape Cobras press conference after their Round 2 One Day loss to rivals Titans, answering the Questions were coach Simon Fitzsimmons and captain Graeme Smith.
Journalist:After being in such a strong position at the halfway mark how do you explain the capitulation that resulted in the loss?
Graeme Smith: Full credit to the Titans batting line up, they stuck to it and never let the run rate get out of hand, we all know that in one day cricket that having wickets in hand is crucial, when they were 3/200 I think the feeling among the boys was that of a bit of desperation.
Journalist: The lack of wicket taking ability in the team is well noted, based on this performance what can be changed in the short term to fix this?
Graeme Smith: It is true that our bowlers haven't looked all that threatening in the shorter version of the game, however in the pre season we did bowl very well and knocked over some of the good division one sides, we just have to keep trucking and the results will come. I used seven different bowling options today so it's obvious we do have a bit of variety in the attack, it's just a case of getting more out of the guys we use.
Journalist: You must be happy with the batting though, the pitch was good but 310 is still a good score anywhere.
Graeme Smith: Well yeh it's nice for the team to put on the big scores reguarly but it's a 100 over game and not fifty. A few of the new boys like Benny (Ben Allen) and Vern (Ian Vernon) will be happy with the way they performed today, also Justin Kemp did well at the end, we certaintly have a deal of batting depth, but it's about playing the match for the whole game and not just half of it.
Journalist: Four weeks into the season the team is still winless, what is the mood in the camp like?
Simon Fitzsimmons: It's not shocking you know. Our two first class games were very winable draws and some would say expectations for one day cricket was low, but we have been in a position to take the points each time, the wins aren't far away.
Graeme Smith: Simon is right, even though we haven't won we are pretty happy with the way we are going, sure everyone wants to win every time but obviously it's not possible. Our younsters in particular seem very upbeat right now, guys like Yannick Porter, Frank Hammett and Vernon Philander are a pleasure have in the squad.
Journalist:There's obviously a long way to go in the season, but what are the short term goals?
Simon Fitzsimmons: Ideally we'd like to win next week! We have a big Four day game against South Zone India at home and it's a match I think we can win. Today we've lost Pepler Sandri to injury but we are blessed to have Yannick Porter sitting on the sidelines waiting for his chance. He was our leading wickettaker last year and will do a good job should he come in this week. After that match I guess we have to look at making some progress in one day cricket, if we don't win soon it's going to be a very long season at the bottom of the table.
Journalist: Your opponents today Tiants, how do you rate them?
Simon Fitzsimmons: We only play them in one day cricket this season, but no doubt for mine they are one of the teams to beat. I think we saw today exactly what we will see from them all campaign, very strong batting with maybe their bowlers bringing them back to the field a bit. In De Villiers, Holland and Darden at the top of the order they should beat most teams, after beating us I can see them being marked a bit closer for here on in.
Journalist: Just wrapping up now what are the positives to take out of today's match?
Graeme Smith: Clearly it was the batting, we batted in partnerships and it was good to see a couple of our new guys in Allen and Vernon bat together for a long time, overall I don't think the bowling was as bad as it looked, as I said earlier I tried seven different options so at times it might have been a bit tough for the bowlers to get on song. William Fitzstanford again showed he is a star in the making, he bowled a lot better than his 1/38 figures suggest as well as those massive sixes he hit at the end of our innings. As Simon mentioned Titans are a very good side and we ran them close, we get another shot against them in round nine where hopefully we will have improved enough to take the points.
