Double dose of T20 cricket
Two Ram Slam T20 Challenge matches came to Benoni on the night of Friday, December 4, and the afternoon of Sunday, December 6.
The Unlimited Titans (already guaranteed a home final at SuperSport Park in Centurion, on Saturday, December 12) hosted the bizhub Highveld Lions on Friday and the VKB Knights on Sunday, at Sahara Park Willowmoore.
The match was crucial for the Lions if they were to stand any chance of reaching the second-place qualifier.
In a rain-affected match on Friday, it was an opening stand of 118 runs between Quinton de Kock (88 runs off 43 balls) and Henry Davids (47 runs off 31 deliveries) that set up the win for the Titans by 68 runs (Duckworth-Lewis method).
The Titans were 55/0 before a brief spell of rain came down after a mere five overs of play.
Initially, the hosts had posted 158/2 off their adjusted 15 overs.
The Lions’ chase of the revised target of 162 runs they desperately needed for victory faltered, as they could muster only 93/8.
The visitors’ chances of reaching the play-offs were over even before the match concluded, as news came through that the Sunfoil Dolphins had crushed the Cape Cobras by eight wickets, and the Warriors had beaten the Knights by six wickets.
- On Sunday, the Titans suffered only their second defeat of the challenge, by four wickets, at the hands of big hitting West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell.
Russell came to the wicket with the Knights at 54/4 in the ninth over, chasing a target of 137 runs.
He immediately took control and turned the match in the visitors’ favour by blasting 66 runs off 23 deliveries, including four fours and seven sixes in his innings.
This assured him of the Man of the Match award, following his figures of 4/11 with the ball in the home side’s innings.
Despite the cameo, his side ended firmly rooted at the bottom of the log.
With Titans safely at the top, the results saw the Cobras scheduled to face the Dolphins in the semi-final, on Wednesday.
