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Bloemfontein - The Protea fast bowler of the Titans, Morne Morkel, swung the pendulum back in his team's favour after the Eagles had restricted the Titans to only 210 in the first innings of their SuperSport Series match at the OUTsurance Oval in Bloemfontein on Friday.
Morkel grabbed three wickets for 34 runs in the home side's second innings leaving them at 139/7 at the end of the second day's play, only 107 runs ahead of the Titans with three second innings wickets remaining.
Thandi Tshabalala (4*) and Charl Pietersen (1*) will continue the Diamond-Eagles' innings tomorrow morning.
The spinner Imran Tahir (2/53) was the other bowler to cause damage, removing Morne van Wyk (16) and Con de Lange (16) from the crease. Ethi Mbhalati (2/27) gave good sup0-port and also made some inroads in the home side's batting line-up.
Ryan Bailey (44) and captain Boeta Dippenaar (25) threatened to take control but both lost their wickets to Morkel.
The Titans are in a favorable position to bag the SuperSport-series title. If they come out on top in the match they will be almost certain of the crown.
The visitors stumbled to 210 all out after starting the day's play on 107/2. They added only a solitary run to their overnight score before Rilee Rossouw took a magnificent catch at backward point from the bowling of left-arm seamer Charl Pietersen (5/47) to dismiss Jacques Rudolph (36) off the first ball he faced on the day. Rossouw took another two catches to get rid of Gulam Bodi (21) and Farhaan Behardien (1) respectively. The bowling performance was Pietersen's best ever in the series.
Victor Mpitsang (3/25) helped to dry up the runs with his seam bowling. He conceded a mere 25 runs in his 17 overs.
Opener Blake Snijman (45) top scored for the visitors. Imran Tahir (33*) helped the Titans to lead by 32 runs after both teams' first innings.
