The Titans’ drive for victory was brought to a halt by Sarel Erwee’s ton, which enabled to the Dolphins to declare at 306-4 in the Sunfoil battle at Kingsmead on Saturday.
They rang the bell when 145 runs in arrears, in the hope of an early breakthrough, but the Titans moved effortlessly on to 78-0 at the close, a lead of 223. But it would take some effort to dismiss the Dolphins the second time around.
Erwee’s second first-class ton, which came off 232 balls (12×4), was the mainstay for the Dolphins, but there was good support from Vaughn van Jaarsveld, who fell eight short of his 13th first-class century (162 balls, 13×4).
They put on 162 for the second wicket, which effectively ended the Titan’s hopes of a quick victory after they had run up 451 in the first innings..
Heino Kuhn was on 50 (75 balls, 5×4, 1×6) at stumps, extending his lead at the top of the batting charts as he took his season aggregate beyond the 800-run mark.
The Highveld Lions, meanwhile, stumbled on to lead of just 24 runs, with five wickets down against the Knights in Johannesburg
They had finally dismissed the Knights for 248, a lead of 104, but lost five wickets before they even reached parity. Duanne Olivier started the slide by dismissing Rassie Van der Dussen and Dominic Hendricks when there were just 27 runs were on the board.
Stephen Cook (42) tried to hold the innings together, while Alviro Petersen added a breezy 30 off 26 balls. Temba Bavuma was on 20 overnight, but the chances of their securing even a draw look extremely slim.
In a basement clash at Paarl, Wayne Parnell scored his maiden first-class hundred as the Cobras racked up 404, adding 52 in 13 to their overnight score, and going on to beat the hapless Warriors by an innings and 12 runs.
Parnell, on 86 overnight, took just 133 balls, with 18 fours and six to, reach the landmark hundred. He ended unbeaten on 111.
Dane Piedt (4-63) and Beuran Hendricks (3-20) then combined well to dismiss the Warriors for just 175 in 57.4 overs second time around, with only JJ Smuts (61) and Yaseen Vallie (33) offering any resistance.
Highveld Lions v Knights scoreboard
Cape Cobras v Warriors scoreboard
