A BRILLIANT five wickets for just 19 runs by David Wiese took the Titans to a superb 55-run victory over the Warriors in their Standard Bank Pro20 match at Supersport Park yesterday.

Chasing 183 to win, the hitherto unbeaten Warriors were bowled out for 127 in the 19th over.

Captain Pierre Joubert made the initial breakthrough for the Titans when he claimed the wickets of Ashwell Prince, caught by Wiese for 13, and Jon-Jon Smuts, caught by Basheer Walters for 34.

Paul Harris, newly returned from India, showed little sign of jet lag as he also took two wickets to dismiss Justin Kreusch, caught by Francois du Plessis for two, and Craig Thyssen, who was bowled for 12.

However, Wiese was the destroyer in chief.

He started off with the wicket of Colin Ingram, who was out leg before wicket for 18. In his next over, Wiese claimed the wicket of Davy Jacobs, who was caught by Du Plessis for 11.

But it was in his third over that Wiese showed his venom, when he took three wickets in four balls to dismiss Rusty Theron, (who heard on Friday that he had been given a Cricket SA contract for the next season), Nicky Boje, and Makhaya Ntini. The crowd cheered him on his run-in after the dismissal of Boje, hoping for a hat-trick, but were disappointed when the ball was called wide.

However, he succeeded with his next ball and sent veteran bowler Makhaya Ntini back to the dug-out for nought. Wiese ended his four overs with the outstanding figures of five for 19, although at one stage, they were even better, on five for 15.

By that stage, the Warriors, who had won all their matches so far, were out of contention, and Joubert finished them off when he caught Garnett Kruger off his own bowling for 11.

Earlier, a superb 69 off 37 balls by Jacques Rudolph, who smashed six fours and three sixes, led the Titans to a competitive 182 for four.

Kruger ended the innings with three wickets for 26, with Ntini the only other bowler to take a wicket.

The Warriors retained their No1 spot at the end of the round robin series of the tournament, with the Titans in second position.

The other two semi-finalists are the Highveld Lions and the Cape Cobras.

The Lions beat the Diamond Eagles by two runs in Bloemfontein yesterday. – Sapa