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Knights make heavy weather of victory

Cape Town - An unbeaten 90 from new captain Theunis de Bruyn steadied the ship for the Knights and then helped them secure an upset four-wicket win over defending champions Titans on day three of their Sunfoil Series opener at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Friday.

The young right-hander led from the front for his side, negotiating a collapse at the other end, before finally finding support from Shadley van Schalkwyk (34) to get their side over the line.

De Bruyn, who played for the Titans last season and is part of a new-look team at the Central franchise, struck 15 fours and a six in his 99-ball innings as they reached the 171-run victory target in 39.4 overs.

The visitors had started out the day on 41/1 and in bullish mood after the stunning exploits of another former Titan, Marchant de Lange, on day two. The Proteas paceman took a career-best 7/23 to bowl the hosts out for 57 in only 14.2 overs - the second shortest first-class innings in South Africa.

The Knights chase looked to be going smoothly on 86/2, but they then lost four wickets for 25 runs to slip to 111/6.

Malusi Siboto, a player who went in the other direction during the off-season, was responsible for the drama with his 3/37.

But De Bruyn and Van Schalkwyk shared an unbroken 61-run seventh wicket stand that came from only 10 overs as they claimed a memorable win.

The Bloemfontein-based side took 15.48 points from the win, with the Titans managing 7.74.

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