Titans still unbeaten in T20 Challenge
The Titans showed again last weekend that they will not easily give up their status as defending champion in the domestic T20 series.
After four games in the domestic T20 cricket tournament, the Titans are still unbeaten and they stand firmly on top of the log.
Albie Morkel and his men followed up their six wicket victory against the Cape Cobras last week in Paarl with two more neat victories against the Knights and the Dolphins during the weekend.
Although David Miller struck the second highest score in domestic T20 Challenge history, it was still not enough as the Knights were beaten by the Multiply Titans with one ball to spare in their clash at Sahara Park Willowmoore in Benoni on Friday.
Miller smashed a career-best unbeaten 120 from 61 balls, the second ton of his career, as the visitors amassed 185/6 after winning the toss and batting.
But in an epic chase, Heinrich Klaasen hit 52 from 30 balls to give the hosts a solid enough foundation, which was built on nicely by Farhaan Behardien with his 30 off 18 balls.
The Knights kept chipping away at the wickets, though, and after removing the key ones of top-scorer Klaasen, Qaasim Adams (6) and Albie Morkel (13) within the space of four mid-innings overs, the defending champions looked done for.
They were then pegged back by more tight bowling as they reached the final three overs on 148/5, still needing 38 off 16 balls.
But David Wiese blasted Dillon du Preez for 22 in the 18th over to turn the tide, although he did fall for 34 from 15 balls with the last ball of the penultimate over when just six were required for victory.
Behardien followed next ball to leave Shaun von Berg and Malusi Siboto to get the winning runs, with the pair struggling to get Shadley van Schalkwyk off the square.
It came down to two runs from the final ball, and when the bowler delivered a waste-high no ball, the batsmen were able to scramble a quick single and snatch a memorable win.
Photo: simondp@actionimage
On Sunday Junior Dala and Shaun von Berg shared six wickets as the Multiply Titans extended their excellent start to the T20 Challenge season with 58-run bonus-point win over the Dolphins at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein.
Seamer Dala bagged 3/30, while spinner Von Berg took 3/25 as Kevin Pietersen’s debut was an unhappy one after the Durbanites could only manage a paltry 127/8 in pursuit of 186. The former England batsman made 24 and was the second best contributor for his side behind captain Morné van Wyk (41), but the rest of the Dolphins batted wilted.
The only thing that did go wrong for the defending champions was losing the toss.
Farhaan Behardien top-scored with a magnificent unbeaten 65 from 33 balls to lead the way for his team. This was after Jonathan Vandiar (40 off 33) and Grant Mokoena (25 off 26) put on a 61-run opening stand.
Even after both fell, the momentum continued through Behardien and Heino Kuhn (32 not out off 17 balls) in a 93-run fourth-wicket partnership. That helped the Titans amass 185/4 – a total that proved way too high for the Dolphins, who suffered their second loss in three matches.
The Titans’ next game in this tournament this coming Friday’s showdown with the Cape Cobras at SuperSport Park in Centurion. The action starts at 18:00.
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