Dale Steyn took four wickets as the Titans stormed to a 14-run victory over the Diamond Eagles in their MTN40 match at Supersport Park on Sunday.

Chasing a target of 255 to win, the Eagles made 240 for seven. Jacques Rudolph top-scored for the Titans with 76, as they made their way to 254 for eight.

He shared in a century partnership with AB de Villiers before being caught behind by Morne van Wyk off Victor Mptisang.

De Villiers and Francois "Faf" du Plessis then put on 61 runs for the third wicket before CJ de Villiers got both their wickets in the space of three balls, with De Villiers bowled for 65 and Du Plessis caught by Johan van der Wath for 34.

None of the rest of the Titans made any major contribution, and they may have gone to lunch thinking they were a few runs short of a defendable total.

The Eagles started off well, reaching 50 and 100 faster than the hosts had done.

However, Steyn struck a significant blow in the fifth over when Morne Morkel took a blinding catch at third man to dismiss Morne van Wyk.

On Friday, Van Wyk set a South African domestic limited overs record of 168 runs against the Lions, but Morkel's catch sent him back to the dressing-room on 12.

Reeza Hendricks and Rilee Rossouw shared a century second wicket stand and the Eagles appeared to be coasting.

But Rudolph brought Steyn back into the attack, and Steyn responded by taking two wickets in successive overs, to dismiss Hendricks for 73 and Dean Elgar for four, with Hendricks caught by Du Plessis and Elgar by De Villiers.

It was at this stage that the Eagles' run chase began to falter. Boeta Dippenaar managed just five runs before he was caught by Du Plessis off Paul Harris.

Steyn once again rose to the occasion when the Eagles introduced their second batting power play, with Rossouw caught by Du Plessis for 52, and then Roelof van der Merwe took two wickets to dismiss Johan van der Wath for 12 and Alan Kruger for 11.

Van der Wath hit a ball high in the air and Van der Merwe had some agonising moments as he waited for the ball to come down.

Du Plessis took the catch that ended Kruger's innings, and ended with four catches - a record for the Titans.

As the wickets tumbled, the required run rate grew and although the Eagles tried to keep the scoreboard ticking over, the Titans were able to keep them in check.

Steyn, who was named Man of the Match, finished with four for 36, and Van der Merwe took two for 47.

Once again, there was plenty of action, but only a handful of spectators came to watch a match in which more than 10 current and former Proteas took part.

Sapa

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