A winning culture, a musketeer spirit, 12 centuries in four-day cricket, four international all-rounders and three bowlers who grabbed 109 wickets between them, propelled The Unlimited Titans to their first championship-double since the glory boys of Martin van Jaarsveld achieved it in 2011/2012.

The Titans were this weekend crowned South Africa’s first-class champions after a 10-run win over the Cobras inside three days in their last league match in the Sunfoil series.

“Rowan Richards produced the performance of a lifetime with his 7/40 to lift us to a 10-run win. We already had it clinched but his bowling helped us to round it off in style,” said a proud Rob Walter, The Unlimited Titans coach.

“A score of 130 was attainable on a good wicket, but Rowan bowled smartly. He consistently hit good areas, used the short ball and also had batsmen caught behind. We had bowlers like Tabraiz Shamsi (41 wickets), Marchant de Lange (38) and Ethy Mbhalai (30) who chipped in throughout the season,” he said.

“The previous weekend our batsmen pulled off a draw (by stone-walling for 146.5 overs to defy the bizhub Highveld Lions), and this weekend, our bowlers pulled us out of the fire,” said Walter.

That family spirit has been evident throughout the campaign, said Heino Kuhn, who became only the seventh domestic franchise-batsman to strike 1000 runs in a season.

His 1126 runs included four centuries, and he might add a national accolade or two to the four prizes he lifted at the achievement-awards evening of The Unlimited Titans.

“We were playing for each other. Rob would much rather lose a game than draw it. He had an attacking mind-set, and so had the team,” said Kuhn.

Walter applauded the fact that so many players made contributions to winning causes.

Kuhn said the cohesive effort and the in-it-to-win-it spirit explains why the Titans achieved six four-day wins and 133.20 points and widened the gap while in the home strait.

The Titans is also the national T20 champions. They were rampant during one of the finest Ram Slam T20 Challenge campaigns in the past decade. It included seven straight wins in the league phase and a seven-wicket victory in a lop-sided final against the Sunfoil Dolphins.