Titans in trouble in four-day franchise series
The Titans' fifth place on the log in the national four-day cricket series will make matters difficult for them to defend their title as champion when the series will continue by mid-December.
The national 4-day franchise cricket series will be interrupted this week until mid-December because of the new international T20 competition, named the Mzansi Super League, which will be presented in the meantime.
The Titans, who is the defending champion in the local four-day tournament, will have to improve dramatically in the second half of this series if they want to defend their title successfully.
Mark Boucher’s team has not been able to win a match in the four-day tournament so far in the current season. After five games the Titans have already lost one, while four of their matches ended without a result.
Last week’s game against the Dolphins in Durban again ended in a draw.
Although the team was strengthened with the inclusion of the Proteas star Dean Elgar, the Titans could not enforce a victory against the Dolphins.
The visitors had only one chance to bat, but Elgar was dismissed early in the innings for a duck after he only faced five balls.
The Titans’ middle and lower order batted well and they managed to achieve 381 runs for a first-innings lead of 195 runs, after the Dolphins were earlier bowled all out for just 186 runs in their first innings.
A brilliant bowling performance of 3/34 from Tshepo Moreki, as well as equally tight contributions by Eldred Hawken (3/49) and Matthew Arnold (3/49) during the first innings of the Dolphins created the opportunity for the Titans to build this advantage.
However, Moreki and his bowling partners could not achieve the same success during the Dolphins’ second innings, and the home team managed to bat to the end of the match to prevent the Titans from batting again and trying to get a result.
The Dolphins’ score was on 302/8 when the game ended on the fourth day.
The Titans will continue their campaign in this tournament on December 19 against the Knights in Bloemfontein.
Shaun von Berg – the new captain – and his team are currently fifth on the log. They are 44 league points behind the Cape Cobras, who has already scored four victories in the tournament.
The men from Pretoria will therefore in the second half of the tournament have no choice but to chase victories in all of their games if they want to successfully defend their title.
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