Africa-Press – South-Africa. The rain in Mangaung may have done them a massive favour, but there is no disputing that the Titans were the deserving Four-Day Series champions.
The Titans, who were third at the start of the final round on Friday, needed to beat the table-topping Lions, which they did by seven wickets on Monday afternoon to keep their hopes alive.
The Warriors were second going into the final round of fixtures and a win over the Knights would have given them the title.
Instead, the weather in Bloemfontein came to save the hosts, who were 82/8 after the Warriors declared their first innings on 166/3.
The entire third day was lost to rain in the Free State ruining the Warriors’ chances while the Titans, through an excellent 143 from senior player Theunis de Bruyn, ensured they batted themselves into a winning position.
After losing their first game to the Warriors and drawing their second match against the Dolphins, the Titans won four of their next five games to usurp a Lions side that started the tournament like a house on fire, but fizzled out badly.
The Titans had bowled out the Lions for 270 on the back of a concerted bowling collective where Aya Gqamane (3/45) was backed up by Simon Harmer (3/84), Lizaad Williams (2/42) and Corbin Bosch (1/66).
The Lions batting effort across both innings was buttressed by Mitchell van Buuren (103* and 107), but with the top-order getting starts but not converting in the first dig, Sisanda Magala’ 61 helped the Lions to the sub-par total.
The Lions’ iffy batting display was put into perspective by De Bruyn’s attacking ton that was abetted by captain Neil Brand’s 81 and Bosch’s 57.
Significantly, the Titans middle-order chipped in with contributions that ensured the Lions were going to have to fight hard to stay in the tournament running.
Van Buuren’s second ton of the game was supported by Reeza Hendricks’s 89, but once the Lions had slipped to 46/4, their title challenge was over.
The 134-run stand between Van Buuren and Hendricks helped save face, but once Simon Harmer (6/84) cracked open the Lions when he dismissed Hendricks and Bjorn Fortuin (25), the writing was on the wall.
Magala (4), Codi Yusuf (0) and Tladi Bokako (6) were all claimed by Harmer, leaving the Titans with 62 runs. They got there in 13.1 overs despite the losses of Brand (1), De Bruyn (4) and Heinrich Klaasen (21).
Grant Mokoena (29*) and Sibonelo Makhanya (11*) guided home the mini-chase, with the latter clubbing Van Buuren for six to clinch the game and with the rain in Mangaung, the title.
However, they needed to wait until just after 17:00 to get confirmation of the washout in Bloemfontein.
The Warriors did the hard work in bowling out the Knights for 227, a total that had Patrick Kruger’s 123 as the only score of significance.
The Warriors reached 166/3 on the back of diligent knocks from Rudi Second (59*) and Diego Rosier (50*) before declaring in a desperate effor to force a result.
In the 30.2 overs available to them, they then pressed the Knights to 82/8 through scalps from Mthiwekhaya Nabe (4/26), Akhona Mnyaka (2/6), Tiaan van Vuuren (1/19) and Tsepo Ndwandwa (1/31).
Patrick Botha’s 38 and Migael Pretorius’s 16 were all the Knights could muster, but it was enough to keep the Warriors at bay.
In other matches, the Paarl Rocks and Dolphins played to a high scoring draw in Paarl while Western Province consigned the North-West Dragons to a sixth defeat of the season through an innings and 132-run hammering.
In the second division, a high-scoring draw between the Northern Cape Heat and the Mpumalanga Rhinos in Kimberley secured the former the title.
The Heat and the South-Western Districts had won the same number of matches, while also drawing and losing the same number of games.
However, SWD lost to Eastern Cape Iinyathi by nine wickets at home to cede the title to the Heat.
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