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Titans top order struggles

Johannesburg - Another poor start with the bat left the Titans in danger of falling to a heavy defeat against the Highveld Lions in a low-scoring Sunfoil Series affair at the Wanderers Stadium.

Another 11 wickets fell on day two of the game to go with the 14 that tumbled on day one, and at the end of it the Titans found themselves on 62 for five, trailing by three runs with five second-innings wickets in hand.

The Lions returned to the middle on Friday on 109 for four in response to the Titans’ 147, and took a cautious approach as Neil McKenzie added just 18 runs to his overnight 30 over the course of 30 overs.

Devon Conway was the only wicket to fall in the first session as the Lions moved to 173 for five at lunch, with Brett Pelser’s 35 a handy contribution, but their progress was stunted by a rain storm during the interval which saw 55 minutes lost.

When the players returned to the middle, McKenzie edged the second ball behind to spark a major collapse in which the last five wickets fell for 39 runs.

A total of 212 gave the Lions a first-innings lead of 65, and it didn’t take them long to make inroads into the Titans order in the second dig.

First Heino Kuhn was run out, and then Cobus Pienaar and Francois le Clus were dismissed by Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Cliffe Deacon respectively.

When Deacon trapped Henry Davids lbw for a duck the Titans were in real trouble at 35 for four, and after bad light caused a break in play Pelser was rewarded for an accurate spell of bowling when he dismissed Qaasim Adams.

Farhaan Behardien withstood the pressure to go to stumps on 28 not out, and will resume the fight with Mangaliso Mosehle on Saturday morning.
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