CSA T20 Challenge Wrap: Momentum Multiply Titans Slay the North West Dragons to Cement 'Home' Semifinal

• The Momentum Multiply Titans cake-walked to a 33-run victory against the competitive but overmatched North West Dragons in their CSA T20 Challenge match at St George’s Park
• The result temporarily puts the Centurion-based side atop the log table, dependent on whether Western Province wins or loses their final round-robin match
• The men from Potchefstroom, on the other hand, will do a lot of praying that results go their way to sneak into the semifinals on Friday

Chasing a formidable 168 for victory after putting the Titans into bat, the Dragons never looked likely to reach their goal, finishing on 134 for seven. Aaron Phangiso in particular impressed with 2/13 in four overs of nuanced left-arm spin.

Dewald Brevis didn’t succeed with the bat but his legspinners brought him the wickets of Dwaine Pretorius and Eldred Hawken while medium-pacer Aya Gqamane bowled tightly, taking 2/22 and also taking a superb leaping catch at backward point to dismiss Nicky van den Bergh.

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Cricket

As reported on Supersport.com, for the Dragons, Lesego Senokwane played effectively for his 31, while Muthusamy struck some blows for his 22 in 15 balls. Perhaps the key to stifling the Dragons’ batsmen is how their openers fared. Wesley Marshall was superbly run out by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock going for a second run in the second over while Heino Kuhn, who had looked in good form, was trapped leg before by Gqamane for a quickfire 17.

The Titans batsmen were key in creating breathing room for their bowlers.

The key was an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 89 in 70 balls by Heinrich Klaasen and Donavon Ferreira after an entertaining cameo of 34 in 17 balls by De Kock. The left-hander’s exuberant innings enabled the Titans to reach 62 in the power play – the most they have managed in the tournament to date.

The entertainment ended, however, when De Kock drove Eldred Hawken powerfully to mid-off where Heino Kuhn pulled off a superb, goalkeeper-style catch diving horizontally to his left.

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North West then continued the momentum shift when Dwaine Pretorius bowled Brevis second ball, his off-cutter knocking back the youngster’s middle-stump.

The scoring rate slowed with Muthusamy celebrating his birthday with some splendid left-arm spin, snaring the wickets of Theunis de Bruyn (25) and Sibs Makhanya (5) in a four-over spell that yielded only 14 runs. The spinner is currently the most economical in the tournament.

The early scoring spree, however, gave Klaasen and Ferreira the time to re-establish the innings with a fine partnership that built momentum to the extent that they cracked 58 in the last five overs. Klaasen, who played some remarkable reverse-laps and sweeps, finished with 54 off 41 balls, his 11th T20 half-century and second in the tournament, while Ferreira struck 37 in 35 balls.

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The Gbets Rocks middle-and lower-order batters held their nerve in a tense finish to beat the Gbets Warriors by three wickets.

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Cricket

Tristan Stubbs continued his remarkable form for the Warriors, smashing a belligerent 47 from only 30 deliveries to help his team post a respectable 156 for six after choosing to bat first.

The Rocks had 19-year-old Michael Copeland (40) and 35-year-old Chritiaan Jonker (30) to thank for rebuilding the run-chase which saw them finish on 160 for seven.