Alviro Petersen achieved one of the more remarkable records in the 50-over game when he hit his third straight Momentum One-Day Cup ton, yet the Titans still beat the Lions with a bonus point at the Wanderers.
Only one batsman had previously scored three consecutive List A hundreds in the South African game – Doug Watson achieved the feat for the Dolphins in 2005, doing it across the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.
Petersen added his name to that record with his 108, the most fluid of his three centuries this season, coming off just 96 balls in a Lions total of 271-8.
If that looked respectable, it was swiftly demolished by the Titans.
Playing his first competitive game since February, Heino Kuhn thumped 119 from just 83 balls and Henry Davids stroked an unbeaten 101 as the Titans chased down the target in the 40th over and won by eight wickets.
With so much pedigree in their top order, the Lions will be left to wonder how they have lost the last two games in which Petersen has scored hundreds.
Some credit will go to the Titans bowlers, with Marchant de Lange and Rowan Richards claiming three wickets apiece to keep the hosts pegged back, and Junior Dala taking 2-40 in his nine overs.
The regular dismissals meant that Neil McKenzie’s 47 was the next highest score after Petersen, and that only their 136-run stand for the third wicket gave the Lions any momentum.
The pair shored up the innings after the openers had fallen, before cutting loose as the 30-over mark approached, with Petersen showing just what sublime form he’s in by coming down the track to hit both Richards and Albie Morkel over long-on for six.
However, the loss of both men within a couple of overs of each other left new batsmen to try and accelerate in the final 10 overs, which yielded just 61 runs as a result.
The Titans allowed themselves time to set the base for their reply, with Davids and Mangaliso Mosehle (25) putting on 50 for the first wicket in 11 overs, but when Kuhn hit top gear and reached fifty in 39 balls, they were able to adjust their ambitions.
Having gone into the game on minus one point due to a slow over rate in their first match, a bonus point looked handy and Kuhn made it possible.
His next 50 runs came off just 34 balls, and by the time he was tamely caught at cover off the bowling of Hardus Viljoen, the bonus point was all but assured.
All that was really left was for Heinrich Klaasen to help Davids get his own ton, which the veteran achieved by hitting a boundary to finish off the match.
