De Bruyn makes big statement after leading Titans to victory with classy 127

Theunis de Bruyn said he had to call upon the services of all his willpower and cricketing intelligence on his way to his match-winning century that took the Titans to a daunting target of 316 in their 4-Day Domestic Series match against the Cape Cobras at Newlands this week.

On a coastal pitch that was much slower than the Highveld wickets De Bruyn is used to, with the ball turning from Day One and a quality spinner brimming with confidence in George Linde, the 28-year-old knew it would be a mental challenge as much as anything to get the Titans to a total that was more than double what they had managed in the first innings.

“It was more about character than skill and we really wanted to win because it’s always nice beating the Cobras,” De Bruyn, who scored an heroic 127, told The Citizen on Friday.

“There was just that will to win even though it was an above-par total to chase and it wasn’t easy – if you bowled tight lines then it wasn’t easy to score because there was no pace and there was turn from day one.

“We messed up tactically in the first innings, but we made clever decisions in the second knock, even with simple things like where we took guard. So I felt in control but the heart was still pumping all the time, the game was on a knife-edge and you know that if something happens to you then you’ll probably lose. Junior Dala and I took it in 10-run blocks, but it felt like forever.”

As a leader in the Titans team, De Bruyn says the mood in the new-look squad, with coach Mandla Mashimbyi now in charge from the start of the season for the first time, is especially good at the moment.

“We’re in a very good space and I’m enjoying the new okes in the team,” said De Bruyn. “Our bowlers did very well and I haven’t played in a four-day game for a very long time in which I’ve seen the consistent skill and intensity that Lizaad Williams and Okuhle Cele bowled with. And we have okes with experience in the side and there’s that transfer of information. We actually played a great game apart from 45 minutes of chaos in the first innings.”

While openers Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram played a key role with their fluent opening stand of 105 on the third afternoon and are likely to feature in the Proteas Test squad in December, De Bruyn wants to get himself back into the international picture and his masterful display against spin will surely be noticed.

“On my last tour to India, Amol Muzumdar (batting consultant) gave me some good hints on front-foot play against spin. Now I’m playing with a bit more wristiness and it felt like I could access the off-side better, with more intensity but less effort. Coming from Pretoria, I’ve always been good against quick bowling, so at the start of my career I worked hard on how to play spin, especially when the ball is turning.

“That Test hundred in Sri Lanka gave me a lot of confidence, but I still feel I can improve a lot against spin, even more so than against pace,” De Bruyn said.

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