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Durban - Titans coach Rob Walter has likened his bowling attack to that of Pakistan after they essentially laid the platform for a convincing five-wicket victory over the Dolphins in their domestic One-Day Cup qualifier in Durban on Tuesday.
"It feels a little bit like we're Pakistan playing with two seamers and more spinners," Walter said afterwards.
"I think we looked at the pitch and realised that it would turn.
"It was dry and that pretty much played into our hands.
The Pretoria franchise fielded just two front-line seamers in the clash at Kingsmead and relied heavily on the slow bowling of Roelof van der Merwe, Shaun von Berg and Graeme van Buuren, similar to a ploy successfully utilised by the Asian country.
"Shaun and Roelof have bowled beautifully, particularly in these last four games...they've changed their mindset, they've change the way they bowled and have bowled more attacking lines and altered their pace," he said.
"So that really has paid off for us because they're getting the job done and doing it well. I'm proud of them."
The Titans' bowling exploits helped skittle their hosts out for just 237, before a faultless century by Heino Kuhn (102 off 117 balls) took the visitors to victory with nine deliveries to spare.
"He's playing beautifully at the moment and it's awesome to see," Walter said of the former Proteas wicketkeeper, who is now the leading batsman in the competition.
"With Henry (Davids) leaving to play for the Proteas, he's just stepped up.
"To go 90, 100, 100 in the last three games is just fantastic."
The win was a fourth successive one for the Titans, all of them must-win contests, and helped book their place in Friday's final against the Cape Cobras in Cape Town.
"I guess the win today caps that run because we're now in a final, particularly with the players we're missing at the moment," he said.
His side is without several stars like Davids, Marchant de Lange, Albie Morkel and Jacques Rudolph for various reasons.
Looking ahead to their trip to Newlands, Walter said their unbeaten run would hold them in good stead going into the final.
"It's going to be tough against a Cobras side that are there for a reason," Walter said.
"They ended up top, they beat us narrowly on two occasions and we'll be determined to get one over them."
Dolphins top-scorer Daryn Smit felt their total of 237 was never going to be enough, saying their poor showing with the bat was decisive.
Lance Klusener's men had slumped to 146 for seven having won the toss and batted first, before Smit (53) and Kyle Abbott (43) shared in an 84-run partnership to propel the hosts to a respectable total.
"We did well to get to 237, but we knew deep down that it wouldn’t be enough unless be bowled really well and struck up front," Smit said.
"We didn’t manage that because obviously Heino played brilliantly, they got some partnerships going and set the foundations.
"We couldn’t recover from that, even though we showed great character."
