The Titans’ team culture played a major part in winning the Ram Slam T20 trophy, says coach Mark Boucher.
His team comprehensively demolished the Dolphins in the final by seven wickets in Centurion, with 53 balls to spare, after they elected to field and unleashed a battery of pace, which restricted the target to just 101.
They had won the first six of the league-phase matches by impressive margins, and showed true grit in resisting a brief fight by the Warriors in the semi-final.
The Titans looked almost invincible through the competition and in the end won eight out of 12 games. Of the four games they did not win, two were washouts, while the other two saw Boucher make personnel changes to his playing squad to give younger players experience and opportunities to those who had missed out.
Boucher came under criticism for fielding a ‘weakened’ side against the Dolphins in their last league-phase match, a match they lost by 89 runs. He shrugs that off.
‘When we got to the semis and the final the guys really showed up, they were nice and fresh, so everything went according to plan,’ he said.
‘The guys made it very easy, to be honest. They all understood from the start that we had a strong squad with a few guys coming back from injury as well, so they knew what to expect.
‘The Titans’ team culture is quite strong and we put the team first, no matter what. We had a couple of hiccups along the way, we got a bit of abuse here and there after that, but we stuck together as a unit.’
But even with the clinical display put on by the Titans, clinching their third consecutive T20 title, even Boucher was surprised.
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‘I really didn’t expect the game that we delivered,’ he said. ‘The guys all rocked up and we put pressure on them from ball one. I’m very happy with the way we finished it off.’
Chris Morris led a stellar bowling performance, finishing with four for 13 in 3.3 overs. Malusi Siboto (2-10) and Lungi Ngidi (2-15) provided support, before Quinton de Kock (39) and AB de Villiers (27 off 13 balls) ran down the target.
Read also: Mark Salter’s column: Titans’ triumph the right result
Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
