Eventually the Titans win silverware again
Titans fans had to wait five seasons for this, but finally their team have won a major trophy again after the men from Centurion became the new Champions in the Momentum One-Day series.
For the first time since the 2011/12 season the Titans have silverware in their showcase to boast with at SuperSport Park.
After a roller coaster season, in which the Titans sometimes played brilliant cricket but also struggled a lot at other times, Henry Davids and his teammates eventually found their form at the right time, which enabled them to be crowned as the new champions of the Momentum One-Day cricket series last Friday night. They beat the Cape Cobras with five wickets in the final of this exiting series.
The Cobras won the toss and their captain, Justin Ontong, chose to bat first. After an opening partnership of 180 runs between Richard Levi (104) and Andrew Puttick (69), it looked like the Cobras were ready to get a big score.
However, the Titans bowlers then came to the party and between Henry Davids (2/53), Junior Dala (1/58) and David Wiese (1/33) they drastically brought down the Cobras’ run rate and took a few vital wickets. Albie Morkel’s good economic bowling was also valuable, although he took no wickets. He only gave away 4.3 runs per over in his six overs.
The Cobras’ 285 runs in their allotted 50 overs thus put the challenge to the Titans to bat at a run rate of just over 5.7 runs per innings if they wanted to win. They had a disastrous start with both openers failing (Davids 0; Rudolph 4) and at one stage the Titans wavered at 60/4. But then Dean Elgar (100) and Albie Morkel (134*) came together and when Elgar lost his wicket on 255/5, it was already clear that the Titans would win the match.
Morkel, who so far this year battled with a serious ankle injury, said afterwards that it was not easy at his age (33) to persevere through all the treatment and to come back after the injury. “I’m at the stage of my career where if you pick up an injury like that, at the age of 33, a lot of people ask questions: ‘Will he be back? Will he play again?’ Mentally for me it was challenging to go through the pain and all those hours on the physio bed,” said Morkel according to a statement from SA Cricket. “I had to make a decision because I do not play for accolades anymore and I do not play with an eye on playing for South Africa again – all my focus is on the Titans, and this is what you play for, to win titles for your team,” Morkel explained his motivation.
The last time the Titans won this series men like JP de Villiers and Theunis de Bruyn were still in school, while other stars of the team, such as David Wiese and Dean Elgar, were still unknown cricketers in the amateur leagues. It was in the 2008/09 cricket season. Over the past year a lot of questions were asked about the Titans coach Rob Walter’s working methods and especially the way he managed the team and individual players.
This trophy is now safely in the showcase and the Titans also still have a chance to win the Sunfoil four day series. So maybe Walter is doing something right that his critics could not see from the beginning. His tactic is clearly to expose a large group of players to the pressure of top cricket.
If the Titans can manage to keep all those players, Walter will soon be the couch with the most depth in the group at his disposal and the Titans could become a formidable force in the three local series.
