Qaasim Adams hit a career-best 76 to put a major dent in the Dolphins’ bid to defend their Ran Slam T20 crown, as the Titans registered a 19-run victory at Willowmoore on Wednesday night.

Adams came to the crease with the Titans struggling on 17 for 2 in the fourth over, and with high winds from surrounding thunderstorms causing a fair bit of disarray around the ground.

The left-hander duly created some havoc of his own, hitting 11 boundaries in a 53-ball knock that carried the Titans to a formidable score of 176-7.

Although four Dolphins batsmen reached 25, none were able to replicate Adams’ innings and so the visitors never looked likely to chase their target down.

Defeat left the defending champions five points adrift of the Knights in third place, having played a game more. Friday’s clash with that opponent in Kimberley now assumes utmost importance.

The Titans are a further point back, and will need other results to go their way if they are to somehow sneak into the playoff.

Their victory also featured a key contribution from Henry Davids, who scored 32 at the top of the order after they had won the toss and opted to bat, and thereby took his tally of runs in the competition past the 300-mark.

Davids now has 312 from his eight innings – a massive 83 runs more than the tournament’s next highest scorer, Richard Levi.

The other telling feature of the game was Darren Sammy’s individual triumph over Dwayne Bravo, with Sammy (15 not out off five balls) hitting two sixes as his West Indian counterpart bowled the final over, before bouncing him out just as Bravo (34 off 18) threatened to bring the Dolphins back into the game.