The Titans’ defeat against the Dolphins last weekend at home in Centurion probably brought an end to their dream to win another local trophy this year.

The men of KwaZulu-Natal’s victory with three wickets has enabled them to move past the Titans on the log in the Sunfoil four-day series, while the Highveld Lions’ good win over the Warriors enabled the men form Johannesburg to also strengthen their position at the top of the log.

The Titans’ defeat means they moved down to the third place in the standings.

After Henry Davids won the toss and elected to bat first last Thursday, the Titans’ batsmen managed to get a modest 267 runs before they were all out. Davids has set another good example with his 79 runs, while Theunis de Bruyn (52), Mangaliso Mosehle (41) and Graeme van Buuren (34) all made reasonable contributions. However, the six single-digit scores, including three ducks, cost the Titans dearly again.

Daryn Dupavillon, Mathew Pillans and Keshav Maharaj did the most damage for the men from Durban with three wickets each in that first innings.

Good bowling by Marchant de Lange, Ethy Mbhalati and Roelof van der Merwe restricted the Dolphins’ first innings lead to 85 runs.

Dean Elgar’s knock of 122 and his partnership of 138 runs with Qaasim Adams in the second innings gave the Titans hope, but the single digits and ducks have crept back in droves. This time there were four ducks and in addition to Elgar and Qaasim only Davids (22) managed to get past twenty runs.

The Titans’ eventual 261 runs in their second innings left the Dolphins with the relatively easy task to only get 175 for the victory on the last day, which they also easily managed. De Lange, Mbhalati, Rowan Richards and David Wiese tried their best to stop the men from KwaZulu-Natal, but finally it was just too much to ask from these hard-working bowlers, who nevertheless managed to get seven wickets before Maharaj could hit the winning runs with a four.