Heino Kuhn scored a half-century as the Unlimited Titans rushed to an impressive eight-wicket win over the Warriors on the fourth day of their Sunfoil Series match at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth on Monday.
The opener, who began the day on 29, raced to his half-century off 62 deliveries, before being dismissed for 67 (89 balls, 10 fours, 1 six) with the hosts reaching 145/2 to complete the win.
In the process Kuhn became the first player, this season, to go past 900 runs and he took his overall aggregate to 944 runs, well ahead of the next highest run-getter, the bizhub Highveld Lions’ Stephen Cook who has collected 720 runs.
It had looked as if rain might have had the final say in the match with the first session of the day washed out. But play resumed after an early lunch had been taken with the Titans needing just 82 runs for victory.
The Pretoria-based team needed just 13.1 overs to knock off the required runs and complete a comprehensive win that saw them strengthen their position atop the Sunfoil Series standings. Kuhn made his intentions clear from the first over of the day as he struck four consecutive fours off the bowling of seamer Sisanda Magala.
Dean Elgar (39) and Kuhn shared in a 102-run opening stand, scoring at almost five runs to the over, before Elgar was caught at midwicket off the bowling of left-arm spinner Jon-Jon Smuts.
Kuhn eventually departed but, by that stage, the Titans needed just 15 runs to win which they duly achieved with Grant Mokoena ending on 27 not out. Left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi was the undoubted star of the show in the contest as he ended with match figures of 12/173 to claim the man-of-the-match award. Shamsi has now taken a remarkable 32 wickets in just five matches at an average of 16.84.