Ken Borland

Three batsmen caught behind down the leg-side and two stuck in their creases and trapped lbw was the sorry tale of the Unlimited Titans first-innings batting on the second day of their Sunfoil Series match against the bizhub Highveld Lions at the Wanderers on Friday.

With the formidable four-man Lions pace attack all hitting their straps, the Titans struggled to 158 for five at stumps, replying to the home side’s first innings of 401.

That the Lions managed to reach that total after being 271 for five overnight was largely due to Kagiso Rabada hitting an impressive 48 not out at number 10, while the rest of the lower-order all dug in to reach double figures.

The 19-year-old Rabada, batting for just the fourth time in the four-day competition (his previous innings have been 0, 3* & 0), showed tremendous composure and plenty of potential with the bat as he hit six fours and two sixes, generally using the straightest of bats.

The Titans had started the second morning well with the third over of the day bringing the wicket of Thami Tsolekile for 31, failing to pull off the hook shot against the pace of Marchant de Lange.

Devon Conway and Chris Morris (16) added 35 for the seventh wicket before the latter edged the left-arm seam of Rowan Richards into the slips, and leg-spinner Shaun von Berg claimed the wicket of Conway (24) in the next over.

The Lions were then seemingly on track to waste the strong start to the innings given to them by Temba Bavuma (84) as they slipped to 321 for eight. But Rabada and Hardus Viljoen (23) added 53 for the ninth wicket and Lonwabo Tsotsobe (10) helped add another 17 for the last wicket, but couldn’t hold out long enough for Rabada to achieve what would have been a richly-deserved maiden half-century.

The ease with which the Lions lower-order batted in the morning was in stark contrast to how the Titans fared as they came out to bat 40 minutes after lunch, but then again the home side’s pace attack is streets ahead of that of the visitors.

De Lange finished with three wickets for the Titans, but was expensive, conceding 114 runs in his 28 overs, while Richards took two for 64 in 20.1 overs and Ethy Mbhalati was wicketless for 64 runs in 24 overs.

Von Berg picked up three wickets and went for 87 runs in his 37 overs, the most admirable effort amongst the Titans bowlers.

The Titans top-order soon found themselves in deep trouble on 47 for four. Instead of being workers of the new ball, they tried too many aggressive strokes and paid the price.

Credit must go to the Lions attack because they put the Titans under pressure with some fine pace bowling, even if some of the wicket-taking deliveries themselves were no great shakes.

Dean Elgar clipped Viljoen for four through midwicket but then shouldered arms to the next delivery, which was straight and swung back, and the left-hander was on his way practically before the umpire put his finger up.

Four balls later, Heino Kuhn flapped loosely at a short delivery down the leg-side from Tsotsobe and was caught behind for a duck, but young Theunis de Bruyn seemed to be stepping up to the plate as he stroked six boundaries in cruising to 30.

Rabada, who gradually upped his pace to impressive levels as the innings progressed, had Qaasim Adams (8) splendidly caught down the leg-side by diving wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, and when De Bruyn was trapped lbw by Morris, the Titans were up against it on 47 for four.

Some of Roelof van der Merwe’s strokeplay may not be suitable for posters of batsmen on schoolchildrens’ walls, but the nuggety all-rounder got stuck in as usual and scored a run-a-ball 23 to at least slightly extricate the Titans from the mire they found themselves in.

Disaster struck, however, when the first ball of Tsotsobe’s second spell, a rank loosener shortly after tea, was sliding down leg but took a deflection into wicketkeeper De Kock’s gloves. Umpire Adrian Holdstock was in no doubt that it had come off Van der Merwe’s bat, but there was a strong suggestion in the batsman’s reaction that the ball had only hit pad.

Coming in at 102 for five, it was critical that Mangaliso Mosehle hung around and he played himself in carefully before becoming more expansive in the last hour.

The wicketkeeper/batsman ended the day on 35 not out and helped Farhaan Behardien add 56 for the sixth wicket in 21.2 overs.

Behardien showed the sort of determination and sound judgement expected of a senior batsman, being technically sound and generally not being drawn into loose strokes as he finished the day on 45 not out in 165 minutes. He is a natural strokeplayer, though, and he did manage to collect eight fours from the 103 deliveries he faced.

Behardien and Mosehle will be central to the Titans’ hopes of staying in the game, the deficit a sizeable 243 at the halfway stage of the opening four-day match of the season.

Geoff Boycott certainly would not approve, but the Unlimited Titans took to the field on the first day of domestic action without their captain, Henry Davids, who withdrew from the team for their opening Sunfoil Series match against the bizhub Highveld Lions at the Wanderers on Thursday.

It’s not so much that Davids refused to play, but rather that he felt others deserved selection in the batting line-up ahead of him.

Davids has been dealing with a nasty hand injury in the build-up to the season, but played in both the Global Softech Sixes and the Northerns Bash and batted with freedom.

“Henry’s hand is fine, he’s been batting like a champion in the nets, but he asked that Qaasim Adams be selected ahead of him in the interests of the team and of sending the right message as far as our selection process goes. It was on the basis of last season’s performances and a seriously mature decision for the better of the team,” Titans coach Rob Walter confirmed.

The Momentum One-Day Cup begins on October 10 so perhaps Davids will return then; it would probably not be fair to give Adams just one chance and drop him should he fail. Adams scored three half-centuries last season and was one of only three Titans batsmen to amass more than 300 runs in the four-day competition, while Davids struggled to 275 runs in 14 innings at an average of 19.

Perhaps the Titans were rocked by the withdrawal of their captain, Farhaan Behardien taking the reins, as their bowlers seemed rusty and unfocused after the Lions won the toss and elected to bat first on Thursday.

On a pitch that offered some pace and movement for the quick bowlers, it took the Titans 99 minutes to claim their first wicket, Marchant de Lange winning an lbw decision against Rassie van der Dussen (37), even though the ball appeared to be going over the stumps.

Temba Bavuma then came in and produced a top-class innings of 84 in three hours, off 148 deliveries. A short man, Bavuma was nevertheless quick to come forward and his driving, especially straight and through the covers, was a sheer delight.

A second-wicket partnership of 116 in 41-and-a-half overs with captain Stephen Cook put the Lions in control and they had cruised to 171 for one at tea.

But in the second over after the break, leg-spinner Shaun von Berg produced a delivery that scurried straight on off the pitch, and Cook was adjudged lbw for 56. It was an innings that had spanned four hours and 23 minutes and 174 deliveries, the opener collecting six fours, but there were a number of scratchy, unconvincing strokes along the way.

A team with a quality leg-spinner such as Von Berg should never be discounted and the 28-year-old claimed the key wicket of Bavuma four overs later, beating the beautifully-set batsman with a wonderful googly.

There was a notable lift in the field thanks to Von Berg’s efforts and the next wicket came courtesy of a brilliant run out, Heino Kuhn scoring a direct hit from square-leg to remove Dominic Hendricks for five.

That brought international wicketkeepers Quinton de Kock and Thami Tsolekile together.

Tsolekile, a worker of the ball, was content to play second fiddle to De Kock, who breezed to 51 off 61 balls as 51 was added for the fifth wicket, before losing his off stump to a ferocious yorker from De Lange.

Tsolekile will resume on Friday morning on 19 not out, with Devon Conway on seven, with the Lions having subsided from 174 for one to 271 for five in the face of a determined Titans comeback.

While De Lange’s dismissal of De Kock will live long in the memory, Walter will be delighted that the fast bowler was able to deliver 21 overs for 78 runs, taking two wickets, and generally look to be heading in the right direction in his “second coming”.

Walter will be over the moon, however, with the display of Von Berg, who just seemed to pick up from the strong finish to last season.

It’s normally the fast bowlers who prosper on day one at the Wanderers, but Von Berg was the best bowler on show with two for 61 in 26 overs and, judging by the turn he obtained from the outset, he will be even more of a handful on day three or four.

Walter will be hoping that his pacemen will be targeting the stumps a bit more on the second day in an effort to wrap up the Lions first innings in the morning session.

Mitchell Starc celebrates another wicket as the Sydney Sixers march on to the title

The Sydney Sixers sealed the title in the fourth edition of the Champions League T20 in a flurry of hefty blows from openers Michael Lumb and Brad Haddin at the Wanderers, but it was the consistent excellence of their pace attack that had vanquished all opposition before that.

Left-armer Mitchell Starc was the leading wicket-taker in the competition, with Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Moises Henriques all in the top-10 as well. Hazlewood was also the most economical of the bowlers who delivered at least 10 overs in the tournament.

Josh Hazlewood - penetrative & economical

The Highveld Lions were the beaten team in the final, but still emerged with much credit as the Australians were the only side to beat them during the competition.

The Titans were the other South African representatives and they also did not let the country down as they reached the semi-finals, where they were beaten by two wickets by the Sixers in a last-ball thriller.

Four venues – SuperSport Park, the Wanderers, Newlands and Kingsmead – were used as South Africa hosted the tournament for the second time, but rain unfortunately also made an unwanted appearance at the start of a wet summer as four games were washed out.

Both the Lions and Titans were away to fast starts as they won their opening two matches.

Jacques Rudolph and CJ de Villiers blew away the Perth Scorchers in Centurion, while the Lions once again claimed the scalp of the Mumbai Indians at the Wanderers on the opening weekend of action, thanks to the batting of Neil McKenzie and Quinton de Kock, and the superb bowling of Dirk Nannes and Aaron Phangiso.

It soon became obvious that Phangiso was able to outwit international-class batsmen as he continued to excel in victories over the Chennai Super Kings and Yorkshire, and the semi-final against the Delhi Daredevils. The left-arm spinner finished the tournament with 10 wickets and an economy rate of just 5.36.

The Titans brushed aside the challenge of the Auckland Aces in their second match, but were then blown off course by a heavy defeat at the hands of the Kolkata Knight Riders. Their final pool game, against the Daredevils, was washed out and they were then devastated to lose their semi-final off the last ball of the match.

The final was a one-sided affair as the Sixers, who best understood the value of a powerful, adaptable bowling attack, surprised the Lions by starting with spin.

Semi-final 1: Highveld Lions v Delhi Daredevils

Neil McKenzie, who was dropped twice off Morne Morkel, ensured that the Lions had a defendable score as he spearheaded a late charge of 54 runs off the last five overs. Morris was then superb on a Kingsmead pitch that provided him with pace and bounce.

Semi-final 2: Titans v Sydney Sixers

The Sixers needed eight runs off the final over and Pat Cummins scrambled a leg-bye off the last delivery. Titans spinners Roelof van der Merwe and Eden Links had earlier bowled them back into the match after a roaring start by the Australians.

Cummins had earlier suffered terribly at the hands of David Wiese, who notched the fastest half-century of the tournament, off just 25 balls, while Henry Davids played an anchor role brilliantly.

Final: Highveld Lions v Sydney Sixers

The Highveld Lions were also-rans in a one-sided final, never recovering from a horror start after the Sixers had surprised them by opening the bowling with spinners. Openers Bodi and Petersen fell to offie McCullum and left-armer O’Keefe respectively, and with Hazlewood also chipping in with the key wickets of De Kock and McKenzie in the third over, the Lions had crashed to nine for four.

Symes, with the help of Tsolekile and Pretorius in the lower-order, gave them something to bowl at, but the Lions were also poor in the field, both Lumb, who also finished as the tournament’s leading run-scorer, and Haddin being dropped in the seventh and eighth overs.

The Cape Cobras officially sealed the four-day domestic series title on Saturday with Australian-like ruthlessness and efficiency, closing in on an innings victory over the Highveld Lions at the Wanderers in the process.

The Cobras, having amassed a daunting 544, dismissed the Lions for just 201 in their first innings and then reduced them to 124 for five in their follow-on.

According to the rules that govern the allocation of bonus points, the Cobras have earned a whopping 9.34 points, putting them out of reach at the top of the log even in the unlikely event of the second-placed Knights beating the Dolphins in Bloemfontein.

The Lions had begun their first innings in solid fashion, resuming on Saturday morning on 111 for one, with Rassie van der Dussen unbeaten on 68.

Opening batsman Van der Dussen had added just six to his overnight score when paceman Dane Paterson trapped him lbw, but the Lions had little inkling of the terrible collapse that would follow as Temba Bavuma and Devon Conway took them to 165 for two.

The drama started in off-spinner Dane Piedt’s fifth over of the day when he had Conway smartly caught at slip by Justin Kemp for 16 and then successfully asked for an lbw verdict two balls later as he trapped Bavuma on the crease on 51.

Cobras captain Justin Ontong could not have asked for much more of his seamers as Shaheen Khan (2-32), Paterson (3-47) and Kemp (3-30) then wrapped up the rest of the innings as the Lions lost their lost eight wickets for just 36 runs.

The Lions, trailing by 343, were asked to follow on and were in early trouble as captain Stephen Cook was caught behind off Kemp for six in the second over.

Van der Dussen and Bavuma once again stood in the Cobras’ way as they added 56 for the second wicket, but Piedt then had Bavuma caught close-in for 34 and added the wickets of Conway (7) and Shaylen Pillay (0) as he took his tally of victims for the competition to 43 in eight matches.

Van der Dussen had once again donned the mantle of chief obstacle to the Cobras as he ended the day on 55 not out.

In Bloemfontein, the Dolphins seemed to be easing to victory when they reduced the Knights to 329 for nine in reply to their massive first-innings total of 564 for seven declared.

Opener Reeza Hendricks had scored 103 to keep shouting in the ears of the national selectors, but wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi then took three wickets to leave the Knights facing a follow-on.

But a magnificent unbeaten last-wicket stand of 107 between Malusi Siboto (51*) and Corne Dry (68*) then took the Knights well past the follow-on mark and to within 128 runs of the Dolphins total.

Gihahn Cloete (83) and Gerhardt Abrahams (51) had also scored half-centuries to frustrate the Dolphins in their quest to overtake the Knights in second place on the log.

Half-centuries by Ernest Kemm (62), Qaasim Adams (89) and Grant Thomson (53) allowed the Titans to take control of their match against the Warriors at Centurion.

That trio of batsmen carried the Titans to 275 for six declared in the second innings, which meant the Warriors were chasing a formidable 395 for victory, with batting out 109 overs to save the match a more likely target.

David Wiese has bowled Michael Price for 13, but otherwise the Warriors have started well, reaching 46 for one in the nine overs they batted before bad light stopped play with four overs left in the day.

The Titans’ dominance in this game has meant they have overtaken both the Warriors and Lions on the log, climbing into fourth place.

The Warriors made 234 in their first innings, only earning 2.68 batting points, after starting the third day on 165 for eight.

Debutant Somila Seyibokwe made a defiant 40, while Basheer Walters took the attack to the Titans bowlers in slamming 38 off 28 balls.

Wiese, with four for 52 in 21 overs, and Shaun von Berg, the leg-spinner, with three for 36 in 11 overs, were the most successful Titans bowlers.

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