Titans thrash the Lions to win T20 trophy

Buoyed by the momentum of their thrilling semifinal win a week ago, the Titans came to the Bullring and duly trampled on the Lions by 45 runs to win the domestic T20 trophy yesterday.

Guided by the maxim "don't fix what ain't broke", the Supersport Series champions left their returning national squad players on the sidelines and opted to field the team that won in such dramatic circumstances against the Knights a week ago.

Yesterday's final by contrast produced no last-ball thriller, let alone a super over, as the Lions had their claws retracted all afternoon.

The Titans were more incisive in every discipline and they deserve kudos for a superb team performance, but there were some individual peaks worth popping corks skyward.

Faf du Plessis, not one of the recent Protea returnees, produced a typically rounded display - scoring some crucial runs in the middle of the innings when the Titans looked most likely to have a wobble, but it was his superb figures of 4/24 in four overs that ripped the heart out of the Lions batting effort.

To be fair, the Lions had already boxed themselves into a corner at 72/3 after nine overs in pursuit of 188 when the leg spinner rolled his wrist for the first time.

Jonathan Vandiar was caught at third man off the second ball of the innings for a duck, before national returnee Alviro Petersen fell for five.

The gifted Quinton de Kock then tried to clobber the Lions out of trouble in the initial power play but when he skied one off Albie Morkel the Lions needed a miracle.

Enter Du Plessis, who accounted for Jean Symes, Dwaine Pretorius, Thami Tsolekile and Chris Morris to extinguish any hope.

Earlier an impeccable spell by Aaron Phangiso (4-14-2, including nine dot balls) helped to apply the brakes to the Titans' innings. He cramped the batsmen, allowing them little opportunity to free their arms, while his two wickets also helped stunt the Titans' effort.

Phangiso slowed things down but Du Plessis (22 off 19) and Martin van Jaarsveld (32 off 21) gave the innings impetus before Farhaan Behardien (42 not out from 26) and Albie Morkel (21 off 15) provided the spark.