Titans will host the Momentum One Day Cup final next Friday in front of their own supporters after they crushed woeful Cobras by six wickets with 111 balls to spare at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday night.
Chasing a modest target of 185 after captain Albie Morkel won the toss and inserted the visitors from Cape Town to bat, Titans did not have many problems to deal with on their way to victory.
As a result, they ended the round robin stage at the top of the standings after they won seven of their ten matches while the Cobras remain at the foot of the table after a disastrous campaign where they only won three matches.
The home side started the chase comfortably as they got out of the first ten overs without the loss of any wicket and the score on 66 with openers Jonathan Vandiar and Aiden Markram on 21 and 40 respectively.
- AB de Villiers' return boosts Titans' Momentum ODI final hopesThe Titans have been massively boosted by the availability of Proteas batting superstar AB de Villiers and all-rounder Chris Morris for the remainder of the Momentum One Day Cup campaign.
Their partnership of 75 runs was finally broken in the 12th over when spinner Eddie Leie trapped Markram leg before wicket to leave him stranded one run shy of his half century.
Before he was dismissed, the 22-year old Markram was taking the match away from the Cobras with an elegant knock of 49 off 48 balls where he was going at a highly impressive strike rate of 102.08.
Kuhn was the next to return to the pavilion in the 18th over when he was caught by Dane Paterson from the bowling of Leie for his second scalp of the innings.
Leie, who is on loan from the Lions, struck again two balls later by bowling and catching the dangerous AB de Villiers without scoring to give the visitors a glimmer of hope but Vandiar’s 72 and Farhaan Behardien unbeaten 29 was enough to finish the job.
With the ball, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi and Junior Dala were the pick of the bowlers with two wickets each as they ripped through the Cobras batting line up which provided little resistance.
Ngidi claimed the scalps of Andrew Puttick and Niel Botha, Dala was responsible for the removal of Zubayr Hamza and Dayyaan Galiem while Shamsi accounted for Dane Vilas and Aviwe Mgijima.
- Titans smash highest OD score in SA‚ Markram gets biggest scoreThe Titans smashed a number of South African domestic one day records during their 169-run‚ bonus-point demolition of the Lions in the Momentum One Day Cup clash at Wanderers Stadium on Friday.
Chris Morris, Aiden Markram and Malusi Siboto returned with one wicket each as the Cobras were ultimately bowled out after 44.5 overs to give the Titans confidence of winning the match and book a final at home.
In their struggles with the bat, middle order batsman Mgijima was Cobras’ highest scorer with 52 off 96 balls and the other notable contributors were Vilas and Galiem who added 42 and 39 respectively to the scoreboard.
In what turned out to be a horrible day in the middle for the Cobras, seven of their men who arrived at the crease failed to reach double figures and their score was made to look a little bit respectable by the ten extras that were conceded by the Titans bowlers.
- TMG Digital/TMG Sport
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