Heats suffer second defeat in a row, lose to Titans by 4 runs
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Mohali: Brisbane Heats threw their Champions League Twenty20 campaign in complete disarray after suffering a narrow four-run defeat against Titans, here today.Chasing a modest 124 to win the Australian side lost wickets in a heap after dismissal of skipper James Hopes, who hit a defiant 37, and now have two defeats in as many matches.Hopes in company of Daniel Christian (21) raised a 44-run stand for the fourth wicket to stabilise the innings as they had lost three early wickets.However once the two batsmen departed, Heats wilted under pressure. Left-hander Chris Sabburg raised their hopes with a quick-fire 19 off seven balls but his run out in the last over proved a last nail in the Heats' coffin.Fast bowler Marchant de Lange took three wickets for 13 runs in his four-over quota to be the most successful bowler for Titans while his pace colleague Rowan Richards took two for 20.It was Richards, who broke the crucial stand between Hopes and Christian by cleaning up the latter.Heats required 10 runs off the last over but managed only five and lost three wickets, including two runouts.Titans, who were invited to bat, could not even bat for their full quota of overs as they were bowled out for 123 in 18.5 overs.Skipper Henry Davids top-scored with a 31-ball 39 and added 69 runs for the second wicket Heino Kuhn (31).Australian paceman Matthew Gale emerged wrecker-in-chief for Heats as he took four wickets at the expense of just 10 runs in his 2.5 overs. Christian took two wickets for 16 runs. Earlier, the match was delayed by 45 minutes due to rain, which stopped around 15 minutes before the toss was held, but the efforts put in by the groundsmen meant the overs were not going to be reduced.Titans were bundled out with as many as seven deliveries to go. Apart from 29-year-old Gale and Christian, Ben Cutting and Nathan Hauritz took a wicket each.Hopes decided to bowl after winning the toss, and was off to a good start as they dismissed Jacques Rudolph as early as in the second over, the successful bowler being Gale.But skipper Henry Davids, who top-scored with a 31-ball 39, added 69 runs for the second wicket Heino Kuhn (31) to stabilise the Heat's innings.The South African outfit's innings soon suffered a double blow, losing Kuhn and Davids in quick succession, that pegged them back after a handy partnership.Kuhn faced 27 balls and hit six boundaries while his skipper found the fence five times at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.The experienced A B de Villiers, in his typical style, smashed his way to 28 off just 19 deliveries before being run out by the Ben Cutting-Nathan Hauritz combination.Needless to say that De Villiers' wicket was important from Heat's point of view as the flashy right-hander was looking dangerous during his stay in the middle, hitting four boundaries as well as rotating the strike with ease.However, what followed was a middle and lower-order collapse as none of the players could reach the double digit in the first innings of the Group B clash.
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