Titans start the domestic season badly

The Titans' recently lost in the first game of the Momentum One-day series against the Cape Cobras in Centurion by only two runs.

The Titans’ domestic season began dramatically last Friday night when they lost in the first game of the Momentum One-day series against the Cape Cobras in Centurion by only two runs.

After their controversial elimination from the Champions League tournament in India two weeks ago, the Titans were positive about their assessment in the first local tournament of the year.

After Justin Ontong of the Cobras won the toss, he elected to bat first. The fact that Pretoria had its first thunderstorm of the season the previous night probably had an influence on Ontong’s decision. The men from the Cape did their homework and probably expected more rain in Centurion on Friday night, which why their openers Andrew Puttick and Dane Vilas kept a fierce pace right from the first ball. They were well supported by Stiaan van Zyl and Ontong later in the innings.

Eventually, only a few drops of rain fell, which caused a break of about 15 minutes. This shortened the game by only two overs, which did not really have an effect on the outcome.

The Cobras reached 150 in the 30th over, but at the time, two Titans players already started to turn on the brakes with their excellent bowling.

Roelof van der Merwe (2 wickets for 44 runs in 10 overs) and the 23-year-old Graeme van Buuren (4 wickets for 17 runs in just 4,5 overs) almost destroyed the Cobras’ batting order on their own. Because of their brilliant bowling, the men from the Cape could not complete their 50 overs. They were all bowled out for 197 runs.

Van der Merwe and Van Buuren were well supported by Henry Davids, Marchant de Lange and David Wiese.

Unfortunately, the Titans’ opening batsmen, like so many times in the past, failed to maintain the same standard as their bowlers.

When the fourth wicket (that of Farhaan Behardien) fell, the Titans’ total stood at a mere 20 runs. But then the Van der Merwe-Van Buuren combination came together again. This partnership was broken only 67 runs later, but the Titans were already back in the game by then.

David Wiese and Mangaliso Mosehle did even better with a partnership of 70 runs and spectators at SuperSport Park, and suddenly believed that they could see a victory for their team.

For some strange reason, however, the tail end batsmen became impatient. They had plenty of time and balls left to get the last couple of runs, but chose instead to hit boundaries.

Eventually the last wicket fell, with the Titans two runs short of a win.

Henry and his men will have a chance to get their campaign back on track on Friday when they face the Highveld Lions at Wanderers in Johannesburg.

At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Stay in the know. Download the Caxton Local News Network App here.
Back to top button