The Cobras relied heavily on assistance from the West Indian cricket star, Kieron Pollard, for their victory of 14 runs over the Titans in Johannesburg on Sunday. Pollard is one of several West Indian stars who will participate in the Ram Slam T20 series this year. The Titans seems to have developed a habit of starting each series with a defeat or two this season. This will be adding unneeded pressure in the later stages of the series. Just as they did in the Momentum one-day series and in the four day Sunfoil tournament, Henry Davids and his men started the local T20 Ram Slam tournament on Sunday with defeat – this time against the Cape Cobras. The tournament started on a festive note at the Wanderers on Sunday with four of the six franchises in action. The Titans and the Cobras competed in the first game from 14:00, followed by the struggle between Highveld Lions and the Dolphins. In the first game of the day Davids won the toss and decided to send in the Cobras to bat. This decision made sense because the weather posed no danger and the Titans have always been a team that likes to chase any total. With Richard Levi (81 from 34 balls) at the helm, and a great performance by the West Indian star, Kieron Pollard (72 from 36 balls) at the end of the innings, the Cobras managed to get a healthy total of 207 (for five wickets) in their in their allotted twenty overs. The Titans were set the task of batting at more than 10 runs per over if they wanted to win the game. Dean Elgar was the Titans’ best bowler with three wickets in his four overs, while only conceding 20 runs. Although Roelof van der Merwe was wicketless, he was again the Titans’ most economical bowler (14 runs in three overs). Davids (72 from 48 balls) and Elgar (72 from 48 balls), started the Titans’ innings with a fine partnership. When the second wicket (Davids) fell in the 16th over, the men in light blue were still on their way to victory. Unfortunately, Darren Sammy’s wicket fell shortly thereafter in the same over. Theunis de Bruyn did his best to save the innings, but after 13 runs off eight balls he also lost his wicket. Although Mangaliso Mosehle (14 from 10 balls) and Roelof van der Merwe (10 from 5 balls) also tried their best to win the game, the excellent bowling by the Cobras eventually ensured that they could laugh last. The Titans were on 194/4 when they ran out of balls. Pollard also performed with the ball for the Cobras. He took three wickets in his four overs and conceded only 22 runs. The Titans will play at home in Centurion on Friday in their second game of the series against the Knights. The match starts at 18:00.