Cobras coach Ashwell Prince will be targeting back-to-back One Day Cup wins when they host the Titans at Newlands on Friday.

The home side had a successful appearance against the Warriors on Wednesday, winning their first match of the competition by 57 runs in East London. That came on the back of a heavy defeat to the Knights in their opening match.

It was a pleasing outcome for the Cobras, considering they took three games to get going in the T20 Challenge and five in the Sunfoil Series earlier in the season.

‘It was nice to get off the mark in the competition,’ Prince said. ‘Obviously that first game didn’t go according to plan against the Knights, so we needed to perform and we did. So, I’m pleased that we have that win now behind us.’

Opponents the Titans suffered a surprise loss to the Dolphins in their match, despite setting a target of 325, but Prince warned they were not a side you could mess around with.

‘The Titans have always had a good team, so we’ll respect them,’ he added. ‘But our intention is to focus on our own strengths and not that of the opposition. So that’s what we’ll be looking to do.’

It has been an uncharacteristic start for the 20-over champions and coach Mark Boucher says the wet weather has not helped.

‘We haven’t had too much of a preparation with all the rain up north here,’ he said. ‘But that’s no excuse. I think we may have been a bit rusty with white ball cricket, so hopefully we can now bounce back in this second game.’

Despite the loss to the Dolphins, Boucher felt they still had more positives than negatives from that result.

‘I thought we played good cricket for most of the game,’ he explained. ‘I think there were stages where we could have even closed the result, some dropped catches and also really bad overs. Those are the big moments we let ourselves down with, but overall there are mainly positives to take out of it.’

Looking ahead to the trip to Cape Town, the former South Africa wicketkeeper added: ‘It’s always nice to play at Newlands, but it will not be easy. They had a good win in midweek, so we’ll need to be on top of our game.’

Both sides will also be in action on Sunday when the Cobras travel to the Dolphins and the Titans entertain the Highveld Lions.

Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images