Titans off to the Cape

Koos Venter

Some would call it a miracle, others would say it was just good timing. The truth probably lies somewhere in-between these two views. There was a good shot of luck involved and the Titans batsmen and bowlers picked the right time of the season for both groups to fire on all cylinders at once.

The important point is that with three excellent performances in their last two league games and in the semi-final against the Dolphins in the Momentum One-Day Series, they have managed to realise the almost impossible by qualifying for the finals.

Less than two weeks ago, most of the Titans’ fans resigned themselves to the fact that their team was practically already eliminated from the Momentum Series after they lost three important games in a row.

Fortunately for Henry Davids and his team, there were a few surprises in the other league games that opened the back door and gave them a fighting chance to qualify for the semi-finals since their second last league obligation. However, they had to win their last two league games and what’s more, they had to win one of these games with a bonus point.

A further setback was that the Titans were forced to play without their captain, Henry Davids, and their stalwart versatile star, David Wiese, in their last league game because these two were called to Dubai, where they are to play for the Proteas in the Twenty20 series against Pakistan.

The Titans, however, still managed to crush the Warriors with a seven-wicket win under the captaincy of Farhaan Behardien in that all-important last league game. Heino Kuhn’s brilliant 104 runs from 96 balls meant they easily qualified for a batting bonus point.

Although they shared third place on the log with the Warriors afterwards, the Titans were placed above the men from the Eastern Cape due to their more favourable net run rate.

In the semi-final against the Dolphins in Durban on Tuesday, Heino Kuhn was once again the hero with his second successive century.

This time he scored 102 runs to help his team pass the winning total in the second last over.

However, the share of the Titans’ bowlers in this victory must not be underestimated. They made the task of the batsmen much easier after they bowled the Durban boys all out for 237 runs. In this regard, CJ de Villiers (3/40 in 8 overs), Shaun von Berg (2/41 in 10 overs) and Roelof van der Merwe (1/47 in 10 overs) did massive work.

Van der Merwe continued on good form this season. He has taken the third most wickets in the series so far, and is definitely ready to be discussed seriously by the national selectors.

Kuhn and Davids are the two top batsmen in the series so far. Kuhn scored 470 runs in the series at an excellent average of 47, while Davids got 400 runs at an average of 44 per innings. The Titans will play the Cape Cobras, one of the joint defending champions in this series, on Friday in the final in Cape Town to determine the new champions.