At some point South Africa's young franchise cream had to rise to the top after last season's disappointment. Titans' opener Aiden Markram, who has the ability to go big when he passes a three-figure score, has been at the heart of that team's rejuvenated defence of the Sunfoil Series.When they lost their opening matches to the Knights by four wickets and the Warriors, also by four wickets, the Titans missed Markram in their consecutive second-innings failures.In the same manner in which he shouldered the South African Under-19 side when they won their maiden World Cup title two years ago, the 22-year-old Pretoria Boys High old boy took up the batting cudgels and led the way for the defending champions.Scores of 162 and 139 against the Dolphins and the Cape Cobras powered Mark Boucher's side to handsome innings wins and also reinstated the Titans' credentials as the team to beat.The Titans may be only 2.3 points ahead of the unbeaten Knights, but the fact that they have been able to accrue that lead is down to Markram's exploits with the bat.With the Titans facing the rapidly improving Highveld Lions in Potchefstroom in the tournament's last round before the limited-overs leg of the domestic season, Markram's contribution may yet prove to be the crucial one.The resourceful Knights have a trip to Port Elizabeth to face the inconsistent Warriors, who made all the running against the Lions before a last-day meltdown consigned them to a 148-run defeat.It was a damaging loss since a draw would have put them in earshot of the fourth-placed Dolphins, who were frustrated by the stubborn Knights and the rain at Kingsmead last week.If the weather holds in Paarl, Grant Morgan's Dolphins are outright favourites to collect maximum points against the sorry lot that are the Cobras.Paul Adams' beleaguered charges have lost three of their four matches by heavy margins and have not shown any signs of improvement...