The Titans’ Sibonelo Makhanya and Rivaldo Moonsamy celebrate a Western Province wicket during their CSA T20 Challenge Qualifier. Picture: Lee Warren / Gallo Images via CSA Media
The Titans have set up a date in the CSA T20 Challenge final with the Lions after they beat Western Province by 19 runs in the final Qualifier at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Friday night.
The Lions booked their spot in the Sunday’s showpiece match at the Wanderers with a resounding seven-wicket win over the Titans in Qualifier 1 on Tuesday night.
But the Titans managed to bounce back on Friday night against Western Province on their home ground to set-up a rematch with their Jukskei rivals Lions.
It was a team effort from the Titans, with most of their players chipping in to secure the victory. After being sent into bat, the runs were certainly shared among most of the batters with Lhuan-dre Pretorius (24), Rivaldo Moonsamy (29) and Dayyaan Galiem (28) all getting starts, but failing to make a big score
It was left up to Proteas all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo to do the business with the bat at the back end of the innings, as he smashed an unbeaten 39 off just 16 balls to propel the Titans to a very good total of 182/7.
Let-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks and all-rounder Mihlali Mpongwana took two wickets each for Western Province.
However, Western Province’s response was something to forget, with two daft run-outs and poor shot selection saw them faltering on 48/5.
Edward Moore (48) and Oliver Whitehead (40 not out) provided some resistance with the bat, but they fell short of the target, ending their innings on 163/6 after their allotted 20 overs.
The Titans’ Proteas speedster Gerald Coetzee was impressive, claiming 2/14 in his four overs to help secure the victory.
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