BLOEMFONTEIN – Chris Morris claimed the key wickets of Rudi Second and Ryan McLaren early on the final day as reigning champions the Multiply Titans won a first 4-Day Domestic Series game of the season when they overcame the VKB Knights by 65 runs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The Standard Bank Proteas all-rounder removed two of the six batsmen to fall on day four to end with figures of three for 55 that helped bowl out the hosts for 249 in 73.2 overs.
Itumeleng Moseki (2/38) also claimed a double and played a key role in the Titans finally breaking their winless sequence in round six of the competition.
The Knights had started the morning hoping to secure the remaining 152 they needed for victory at the Mangaung Oval, but they were only 22 runs into the day before Morris broke their back with the key wicket of Second, trapped leg before wicket for 31.
McLaren continued to soldier on, but he too fell not long after when he was bowled by the South Africa paceman for 32.
Those two wickets, the last of the recognised batsmen, left the home side with a mountain to climb. It was then just a matter a time, and after Tabraiz Shamsi (2/40), accounted for Aubrey Swanepoel for 28, new man Moseki made light work of Tshepo Ntuli (2) and Duanne Olivier (0) – both taken out in the same over.
Dean Elgar (1/6) got last man Shadley van Schalkwyk (13) to wrap up a vital first win that saw Mark Boucher’s side move up to second on the table.