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Potch proves a spinners' paradise as Titans and Dolphins reach T20 Challenge final

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Sibonelo Makhanya. (Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo Images)
Sibonelo Makhanya. (Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo Images)

  

There was to be no repeat of the record-breaking exploits from Monday, but the Titans showed their professionalism and prowess with the ball in securing what now feels like a customary spot in the final of the CSA T20 Challenge. 

They did so by defeating the Knights by 38 runs in the first of the semifinals in Potchefstroom on Wednesday. 

Meeting them in Saturday's final are the Dolphins, who reaffirmed their status as one of the leading limited-overs outfits in the country by defeating the Boland Rocks by 20 runs in the second game of the day.

Under grey skies and a surface that lacked the easygoing nature of the round-robin fixture that led to a world record 501 aggregate runs, the men from Centurion scored at a more conventional - perhaps even slow - rate in reaching a competitive 158/6. 

Signs of the going being tougher were evident from the outset as Dewald Brevis - the main protagonist in Monday's bonanza with a 57-ball 162 - struggled to settle against a fiery Gerald Coetzee, whose exploits in this competition suggest he's also ready to stake a claim for higher honours. 

The former national Under-19 star bent his back and generated notable pace, making life uncomfortable enough for Brevis that he holed out within five deliveries of Migael Pretorius coming into the attack. 

Yet that failure hardly deterred the Titans, who could count on their two leaders, Sibonelo Makhanya and Theunis de Bruyn, to pick up the slack. 

Makhanya, who missed a few matches with concussion earlier in the tournament, was hit on the helmet again early in his knock before showing much class with a fluent 45 off 34 that proved the mainstay effort of the innings. 

De Bruyn was aggressive with a 28-ball 36, but Coetzee (2/28) and Mbulelo Budaza combined well to keep the scoring rate in check, meaning the target was decent if hardly un-chaseable. 

Gihahn Cloete (21) and Jacques Snyman's (33) solid start even suggested the Titans might have a proper slugfest on their hands before their vaunted quartet of spinners strangled the life out of the Free Staters' reply. 

Three wickets fell for one run in five balls between the 15th and 16th over, emphatically crushing their hopes. 

The left-arm tweaks of Neil Brand brought him figures of 3/24, and he was supported well by the irrepressible Simon Harmer (2/22). 

Clearly a man not keen to operate in the background, Brevis claimed the key wicket of Snyman just to remind everything he was around too.   

Spin paradise

Meanwhile, the Dolphins made the best use of conditions that resembled their homeground Kingsmead's, making sure that they had a defendable total and then striking with a varied and disciplined attack.

Indeed, none of their batters were able to make any score of significance, but Prenelan Subrayen's cameo at the death proved absolutely vital, his 11-ball 22 just providing enough of a buffer to give his team some confidence.

Bamanye Xenxe continued to make a huge impression for the Rocks in this tournament, claiming 4/34 and capitalising on a superb spell of leg-spin by Shaun von Berg (3/22).

But the target of 147 proved beyond the team from Paarl, particularly after talisman Janneman Malan (37) became bogged down and allowed the tweaker twins of Subrayen (3/18) and Jon-Jon Smuts (2/17) to have a field day.

Veterans Farhaan Behardien and Hardus Viljoen briefly threatened a revival, but the Dolphins eventually dominated the evening.   

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