Titans tame the Lions in Benoni
A large crowd of cricket lovers gathered at Willowmoore Park on Sunday, January 26, to witness the Ram Slam T20 Challenge between Gauteng’s top-dogs, The Unlimited Titans and the Bizhub Highveld Lions.
The Lions are yet to win a T20 fixture this season — a far cry from the team who won last year’s tournament — and are firmly situated at the bottom of the table.
The Titans, meanwhile, kept their chances of a play-off alive, thanks to some superb bowling from Protea paceman Morné Morkel and a solid opening partnership from captain Henry Davids and Heino Kuhn.
Batting first, it was the young Protea star Quinton de Kock who was the stand-out batsman for the Lions.
The left-hander scored 70 runs off 50 deliveries, which propelled his team to a competitive 142 in their 20 overs.
Pakistani off-spinner Saeed Ajmal again proved why he is so highly regarded in world cricket, by bagging three wickets for 26 runs in his four overs.
Davids and Kuhn got the home side off to a great start in pursuit of the Lions’ target, as they formed an 82-run partnership, before Kuhn was out LBW, off the bowling of leg-spinner Imran Tahir, for a well-played 43 off 31 balls, despite replays suggesting that he had an edge on the ball from the spinner.
At 99/3 in the 13th over, the Lions must have believed that they had a chance to salvage something from the game, but Farhaan Behardien, Albie Morkel and David Wiese held out to give the Titans a very important victory in their play-off pursuit.
Behardien played an important innings, with 31 off 21 balls, that included four fours.
A straight four off the bowling of Hardus Viljoen, in the penultimate over, ended the day’s proceeding at Willowmoore Park.
The Lions will be left to lick their wounds after a poor display, while Davids and company savour another win in Benoni.
