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Lions overwhelm Titans

The Highveld Lions produced a remarkable, upset victory against the highly fancied Nashua Titans in their Standard Bank Pro20 match at the Wanderers on Friday.

The Highveld Lions produced a remarkable, upset victory against the highly fancied Nashua Titans in their Standard Bank Pro20 match at the Wanderers on Friday.

In the spirit of "instant cricket" which the popular formula of the game has bred, autumn rain reduced the game to a seven-over slog after the Lions had reached 15-0 in 2.4 overs in normal time.

When the game was eventually restarted the Lions posted 76-1 before restricting an amazingly retarded and unimaginative Titans side to 65-1 in reply - and victory by 12 runs.

Adam Bacher's unbeaten 39 from just 22 balls helped the Highveld Lions reach a total of 76-1 from their seven overs while Neil McKenzie's cameo of 16 from six balls and Ashraf Mall's 20 from 14 deliveries completed the damage.

Remarkably, when the Duckworth-Lewis calculation had been completed, the Titan's target was recalculated to just 78 for victory - only two runs more than than the Lions had set them despite facing 16 balls in the belief that they would be batting for 20 overs.

In reply the Titans maintained their usual batting order and paid the ultimate cost as Justin Kemp never visited the crease while his side slumped to 65- 3 in reply. Zander de Bruyn and Alviro Peterson are marvellous cricketers but their worth is better judged over 40 or 50 overs than 20 and the Titans receding chances of a home semi final are purely of their own making.

Victory over Western Province Boland at Newalnds on Sunday is vital to hosting a home semi.

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