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SIMON HARMER will lead a Chevrolet Warriors side with two franchise debutants when they take the field against The Unlimited Titans at SuperSport Park from Thursday n the last round of Sunfoil Series fixtures.
With Davy Jacobs out injured, Colin Ingram unavailable and Ashwell Prince retired, the Warriors have run out of obvious captaincy candidates.
Coach Piet Botha has, therefore, plumped for his leading four-day player, who also has some captaincy experience at other levels of the game.
“There aren’t a lot of options because Davy is injured and Colin Ingram, our official vice-captain, is still not available. Ashwell was our captain for the last few games,” said Botha.
“So we’re giving Simon an opportunity to see what he can do because there aren’t many others with captaincy experience.”
Prince’s departure into the sunset has opened up a place in the batting line-up, while Rusty Theron is down with flu and Vuyisa Makhaphela is still out with a dislocated finger.
Botha will, therefore, hand debuts to two Border boys, with right-hand batsman Somila Seyibokwe and 21-year-old seamer, Thandolwethu Mnyaka, set to come into the side.
The Titans will also field a young team, with Easterns batsman Grant Thomson rewarded for being the fourth-highest run-scorer in the CSA Three-Day Competition with a place in the squad.
With Graeme van Buuren still out injured there are spots up for grabs, and captain Henry Davids hinted that there could be more youngsters coming in.
“If we decide to pick some of the newer faces it will be good to see what they might be able to offer us next season,” he said.
Roelof van der Merwe replaced Van Buuren in the number four berth last week, and could do so again.
“When Graeme got injured in the nets last week we needed someone to fill in and Roela has been doing well this year - he’s our leading run-scorer in the four-day format,” said Davids.
The two sides are currently bottom of the table, but victory could lift one of them as high as fourth place.
