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The Titans were eventually bowled out for 271 after tea, leaving the Cobras a target of 77 in a minimum of 18 overs, at a reasonable asking rate of 4.3 per over.
The Cape side lost three wickets in their chase of the small target, which they reached with just 9 balls to spare.
The Titans started the day on 63/0 with Jacques Rudolph and Blake Snijman in great touch, but the left-arm spinner Claude Henderson removed them in quick succession and received some help in the form of the off-spinner Justin Ontong who removed Gulam Bodi and Mangaliso Mosehle.
Henderson has taken ten wickets in the match thanks to his 7/108 in the first innings and his superb marathon spell of 3/74 in 48 overs in the second innings.
Ontong captured 2/18 in nine overs.
The Titans were hanging on on 152/3 at lunch.
Fate stepped in straight after lunch to give the Cobras a lending hand. Charl Langeveldt bowled a fullish delivery which Farhaan Behardien tried to drive down the ground. Langeveldt touched the ball and it crushed into the stumps with Faf du Plessis out of his ground at the bowler’s end.
He was run out for 9 and the Titans slipped to 154/4. It was a setback, as Du Plessis is a good player of spin.
Mosehle came to the crease and played a few superb shots for boundaries, but the part-time off-spin of Ontong defeated him.
Ontong had him caught behind for 17 (19 balls, 3x4) and the Titans were reduced to 185/5.
Henderson took the pivotal wicket of Behardien just a few moments later when he produced a ball just short of a length and Behardien was bowled by one that kept very low. It is a typical fourth day wicket with the bounce getting more and more uneven.
Behardien soldiered on when wickets were falling around him and batted bravely for 141 minutes, received 108 deliveries and hit six fours in his 44. With his departure the Titans were in trouble on 189/6.
That wicket gave Henderson his tenth wicket for the match, only the second time during a career spanning twenty years that this 38-year old left-handed spinner achieved it.
Roelof van der Merwe played with his customary flair for a while before another delivery that kept low trapped him in front. The executioner was Langeveldt, and Van der Merwe departed for (22, 43 balls, 3x4) which put the Titans in real strife on 213/7.
Teams:
Nashua Titans: Jacques Rudolph (captain), Blake Snijman, Gulam Bodi, Pieter Malan, Faf du Plessis, Farhaan Behardien, Pierre Joubert, JJ Pienaar, Hardus Viljoen, David Wiese, Ethy Mbhalati, Shaun von Berg.
Nashua Cape Cobras: Justin Kemp (captain), Andrew Puttick, Stiaan van Zyl, Justin Ontong, Richard Levi, Ryan Canning, Vernon Philander, Rory Kleinveldt, Claude Henderson, Monde Zondeki, Charl Langeveldt.
