Titans downed by Dolphins
The Unlimited Titans were looking to keep their chase for the Momentum One-Day Cup playoffs alive with a win over the Sunfoil Dolphins at Sahara Park Willowmoore on Friday, November 1.
A decent number of spectators made their way to the Benoni cricket stadium to witness the clash.
The last time that the Titans played in Benoni, on October 23, they romped to a seven-wicket victory over the Knights on a somewhat inconsistent WillowmoorePark pitch.
The pitch seemed to play a lot better on Friday and the Titans’ skipper Henry Davids won the toss and put his team into bat.
The home side managed to put up a score of 237/9 in their allotted 50 overs.
Davids had the Titans off to a strong start with 44 off 56 balls but the Dolphins’ Robbie Frylinck claimed the wickets of Roelof van der Merwe and the captain.
The Titans suffered a mid-innings collapse courtesy of Englishman Graham Onions (3/56) and Frylinck (2/35) after setting themselves up nicely at 97/2.
At 145/7 the team was reeling until Mangaliso Mosehle, who top scored with a defiant knock of 54 runs off 60 deliveries, featured in a 53-run partnership with Farhaan Behardien to boost the total for the hosts.
The Dolphins lost three wickets early in the innings and the hosts must have felt they had a chance when fast bowlers Marchant de Lange removed their skipper Morné van Wyk for 47 to reduce the visitors to 65/3.
Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Cody Chetty then joined each other at the crease and pushed the visitors’ score to 183/3 before van Jaarsveld was caught behind by wicketkeeper Heino Kuhn off De Lange for a composed 65.
The pair had formed a 118-run partnership to take the coastal outfit within striking distance of the target.
Good knocks by Khaya Zondo and Daryn Smit took the visitors past their target with seven balls to spare.
The pair formed a 49-run partnership off 49 balls for the sixth wicket to lead their team to victory in Benoni and one step closer to the play-offs.
