A vital century by Farhaan Behardien dragged the initiative away from the Cobras on day two of their Sunfoil Series match at Paarl.
His 129 helped the Titans to the point where they could declare at 435-9, but the Cobras responded well, ending the day on 124-0 off 52 overs – a run rate of 2.3 – with Andrew Puttick on 71 and Pieter Malan on 49.
At the start of the day, the Titans were sitting nervously on 280-6, with Behardien on 56 and they needed a strong display from the lower order. They got that with bells on.
Behardien actually accelerated; whereas his first 56 came off 96 balls, he added another 73 off just 113, ending with 11 fours and a six. Alongside him was Eldred Hawken, who came in at number eight and was on 10 overnight, but he powered on to his highest first-class score of 52, off 101 balls.
Behardien put on 110 for the seventh wicket alongside Hawken, and another 42 with Malusi Siboto for the eighth wicket. Behardien then became Dane Paterson’s third victim while Siboto was on 27 when the declaration came.
Both the Cobras and the Titans have one win apiece after eight rounds of the series played, and neither can afford a loss.
There may have to be some brave decisions, because it is a batsmen’s wicket and someone is going to have to roll the dice, offering a tempting target.
They would have been nervously watching the Warriors roll over the Knights, but there was no play at all in East London, due to rain, with the Warriors on 77-2 chasing the Knights’ 188 in the first innings
Photo: Chris Ricco/BackpagePix
