Johannesburg – Saeed Ajmal took his third three-wicket haul in as many matches as the Titans beat the Lions by six wickets at Willowmoore Park, in Benoni, on Sunday, to keep their domestic T20 playoff hopes alive.
Ajmal had been ruthless since arriving in South Africa at the start of the week, and bowled particularly well in tandem with Morne Morkel, who put in another miserly bowling stint with figures of 2/14 from four overs.
In the face of such disciplined trickery from the Titans, the Lions could muster just 142 – 70 of them scored by Quinton de Kock – which the Titans chased down with nine balls to spare.
De Kock smashed three sixes and five fours in his 50-ball innings, but found almost no support at the other end before Ajmal had him caught and bowled at the start of the penultimate over of the innings.
Heino Kuhn's 43 from 31 balls knocked the top off the chase for the Titans, as he put on 82 for the first wicket with captain Henry Davids. Although the Lions hit back with three wickets in four overs, Farhaan Behardien's unbeaten 31 from 22 deliveries carried the hosts to victory.
The Lions remain winless from their eight matches in the competition, while the Titans now have 18 points from the same number of games.
This places the Titans in fourth place behind the Dolphins.
The Warrior are in second place while the Cape Cobras top the table. – Sapa