Centurion - In a match in which few batsmen were able to establish themselves, Albie Morkel took four for 25 to help the Titans to a 25-run rain-adjusted victory over the Warriors in their MTN40 match at Supersport Park on Sunday.
Sent in to bat by the visitors, the Titans were all out for 214 in the 39th over.
Morkel and Henry Davids, who came together with the score on a shaky 53 for five, shared a sixth wicket partnership of 83 off 109 balls before Morkel was trapped leg before wicket by Jon Jon Smuts for 45.
Davids went on to record his first 40-over half-century before going out leg before wicket to Rusty Theron for 51.
David Wiese played a delightful cameo innings, hitting three sixes and a four to smash 32 off 22 deliveries before he was caught at long-off by Corbyn Dolley off Justin Kreusch, and Mangaliso Mosehle chipped in with 26, including two sixes, to help the Titans reach a defendable target.
Theron was the most successful bowler, taking three for 46, while Makhaya Ntini and Kreusch took two each.
Although the defending champions needed to score at less than a run a ball when they began their chase, they quickly dropped back and started losing wickets at regular intervals.
Morkel got the ball rolling in his second over, when he had Arno Jacobs caught behind by Heino Kuhn for just one.
Smuts went five overs later, caught by Kuhn off Ethy Mbhalati for 19.
Colin Ingram, one of the stars of South Africa's recent 3-2 one-day international victory over Pakistan, became becalmed and frustrated, and it was almost inevitable that he would get into trouble. He was run out by Blake Snijman as he tried to break the logjam.
Justin Kreusch, however, made a valiant effort to get the Warriors back into the game.
He and Craig Thyssen put on 69 for the fourth wicket before Mario Olivier ran Thyssen out for 21. When Kreusch got a top-edge to a delivery from Olivier, and was caught at short third man by CJ de Villiers for 68, it really signalled the end of the Warriors' victory effort.
To add to their problems, the clouds started gathering over Centurion, and with every wicket, the required Duckworth/Lewis (D/L) target got bigger and bigger.
When rain and lightning drove the players off the field in the middle of the 37th over, the Warriors, needing 204 to win at that stage, had 178 for nine, well short of the D/L target.
Both teams will be in action in cross-pool matches against the first team to qualify for the semifinals, the Highveld Lions, in the coming week.
The Warriors play the Lions in East London on Wednesday evening and the Titans travel across the Jukskei to take on the Lions at home at the Wanderers on Friday night. - Sapa