By Mohammed Shakeel Aboo
On the eve of the MTN Domestic Championship final in Bloemfontein on Friday, Titans coach Richard Pybus demanded an improved bowling and fielding display from his side.
Whatever Pybus said seemed to pay dividends as the Titans produced a near perfect display of fielding as they romped to an eight-wicket victory against the Diamond Eagles in Bloemfontein.
From the onset, the rub of the green went the way of the Titans.
After winning the toss and sending the Eagles into bat, the home side were under the cosh from the beginning as explosive batsman Loots Bosman calamitously ran himself out without doing much damage. With wickets falling at regular intervals, the Eagles had no answer to the Titans and were eventually being bowled for 137 in the 44th over.
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On a day when the the title was at stake, the fielding of the Titans was superb with Martin van Jaarsveld anticipating a sweep shot from Morne van Wyk to take a catch down the leg side after moving before the shot was played.
Faf du Plessis produced a top class dive to remove the dangerous Ryan McLaren as the Titans basically out-thought, out-foxed and outplayed the home side to successfully defend their title.
The bowling for the Titans was on the mark with Proteas spinner Paul Harris returning from international duty in Australia did brilliantly. Harris led the line from the front to finish with figures of 5/27 in his nine overs.
Man of the match Harris was pleased with his showing.
"It was great to make a contribution to the side after being away for a long time. Credit must be given to the boys for making it into the final. I'm enjoying my bowling and it was nice to get my first fiver." said Harris.
With Harris coming off a successful Test series win over the Australians there were concerns that Harris might take some time to adjust to the limited overs format.
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