CENTURION (South Africa) - Although his joints are not as ancient as some and fitness is always a matter of pride, Mike Rindel's wonky knee is the latest injury concern for Northerns coach Peter Kirsten as the Titans prepare for their next assignment.

Kirsten also expressed worry over the debilitating problems which have beset the Northerns top-order as the Standard Bank Cup quarter-final looms against an organised Free State at Centurion today week.

Rindel, one of the curbstones of Northerns limited-overs success in recent seasons, has been struggling with a knee problem which seems to have affected his batting mobility, while Deon Jordaan has a back injury and Rudolf Steyn is still struggling with the calf muscle worry which has all but ruled him out since late December.

And, as Kirsten pointed out at yesterday's five hour middle net session at L C de Villiers Oval in temperatures more akin to the Asian sub-continent that March on the Highveld, the need is to find top-order stability. The difficulty here is that with Roy Pienaar not being involved for five weeks, the motivation factor becomes important.

The coach was more than happy with the batting form displayed by Martin van Jaarsveld and Gerald Dros yesterday and the hope was to have Rindel and Roy Pienaar peaking by this time next week.

Mark Davis, the Northerns captain, felt the middle practices are an important part of the build up in the preparation process; batting and bowling combinations being very much a part of the early strategy. It was no coincidence, either, that Northerns had this net the day after Free State walloped North West at Fochville on Wednesday night by 62 runs to set up a third limited-overs meeting between the two this season.

``It was worth while practice and gave us a chance to test a few things as well,'' he said.

Nothing escapes Kirsten, however, and he was quick to spot the flaws in the North West bowling plans, if they indeed had a strategy, while watching the game on TV on Wednesday night. Boeta Dippenaar was seen as the main danger, and with Gerhardus Liebenberg batting lower in the order than usual at six to allow those in form to get the runs.

As Kirsten and Davis agreed that Free State are a better batting than bowling side, the planning for next Friday's game has to be ``fine tuned'' to meet the demands.

While admitting that Free State had a good victory over North West to reach the quarter-finals, Kirsten noted how North West lost more runs in the field than they could afford and that Northerns had a far different bowling attack and strategy to that marshalled by North West in Fochville.

With a tough weekend of club assignments coming up Kirsten has decided to continue preparation on Monday with the squad being announced on Thursday after the net session. The other part of the planning is a fielding session under lights on Wednesday.