Brent Kops is very talented but unfortunately, especially for the Warriors pace attack, he's struggling with an injured knee at the moment. He's just what South African cricket needs (besides a good spinner), a left-arm quick.
The Supersport Series officially starts on Thursday. Fixtures are as follows:
Warriors v Cobras (St. George's Park, PE) - Cobras should win this comfortably. The Warriors are without Johan Botha (fractured finger) and Brent Kops (knee injury). Tyron Henderson is also unavailable as he's taking part in the Hong Kong Sixes. Mario Olivier and Rowan Richards will make their debuts alongside spinner Robin Peterson (captain) and Mfuneko Ngam, who can hopefully go a season without injury *touch wood*. Cobras have also been strengthened by the signings of Monde Zondeki and Ian Harvey. Makhaya Ntini and Mark Boucher of the Warriors as well as Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs and Ashwell Prince of the Cobras will be on international duty. The batting on the Cobras' side looks fairly comfortable with the likes of Puttick, Duminy and Harvey but the Warriors line-up (Bradfield, Bruyns, Pope, Jacobs, Kreusch, de Wett & Sodumo) looks a little unstable in some areas and the difference between a bad and a decent score will depend a lot on Arno Jacobs.
Dolphins v Lions (Kingsmead, Durban) - This should be quite close. I can't see much between these two teams. Both have good bowling attacks, with Terbrugge and Kruger for the Lions and Klusener, Hayward (if he's on song) and Tweedie for the Dolphins. The batting line-ups are largely inexperienced but there are some talented young batsman like van Jaarsveld, Khan, Amla (who does perform at provincial level :P ), Stephen Cook, Ontong and Nkwe eager to make an impression on the selectors.
Titans v Eagles (Centurion) - I'll tip the Titans but it'll be close. The Eagles are the reigning champions (joint with Dolphins) in the competition but the Titans have such a good team that I can't see them getting an easy game. Bowling is good on both sides with Dale Steyn, Alfonso Thomas and Ethi Mbhalati (missing Andre Nel) for the Titans and Cliffe Deacon and Johan van der Wath for the Eagles. The spin bowling is also quite good by SA standards with Harris (Titans) and Tshabalala (Eagles). With the absence of Boeta Dippenaar (international duty) the batting will probably be centred around Jacques Rudolph, Jonathan Beukes and Davey Jacobs. Benji Hector and Morne van Wyk could also do some damage. Loots Bosman is dangerous but only if he comes off and it doesn't happen that often.
The Titans are missing Justin Kemp, Albie Morkel and AB de Villiers, so their batting will be centred around Zander de Bruyn and Martin van Jaarsveld (if he plays). They also have a few talented youngsters like Alviro Petersen and Maurice Aronstam.