the play-off while Morkel and Thomas took eight wickets between them.As a unit, they are used to winning. Since the franchise system was put
in place nine seasons ago, they have won eight trophies and shared one.
They produce players who step into the national set-up at will and are
known as competitive, confident cricketers who were embarrassed by their
last-place finish in the first-class competition which came after
failing to win a single match.They missed out on the one-day cup final and hovered near the bottom of
the table in the T20s until they surged to the top and were pipped at
the final post to force them into the play-off. This is their chance to
keep their title average up where it has always been, one a summer, and
stamp their authority on South African cricket again.For Lions, there's a lot more they need to prove. Despite being the most
consistent franchise in the country this season - second in the
first-class competition, shared winners of the one-day cup and top of
the T20 table - they have not won a trophy. In the last calendar year,
they have had four opportunities to do so, beginning with the 2012
domestic T20, one which they lost to Titans. Few thought Lions would get
as far as that final and when they did, that was considered enough. But
they surpassed all expectations when they made the final of the CLT20
before crumbling to Sydney Sixers. Two washouts meant they were
joint-winners of the 50-over competition and now, they are tired of
settling for second-best.The peripheral prizes have all been handed out on South Africa's
domestic cricket scene. Both Lions and Titans have confirmed their
appearance in this year's Champions League T20, Lions' coach Geoffrey
Toyana has been rewarded for an outstanding season by being named coach
of the South African Emerging squad, Jean Symes, the Lions'
second-in-command will lead that side and Titans have turned around a
disastrous defence of their first-class title to stand in line for
silverware in the shortest format. Now, the battle for that trophy is
what it's all about.Although the sideshows are more lucrative, especially the CLT20 which
guarantees teams a participation fee eight times the amount they would
get for winning the local tournament, no value can be put on bragging
rights. Both franchises in Sunday's final are desperate for it which
should set the scene for a fitting end to the summer.Those who come down to the Wanderers on Sunday, those who watch from
television sets across the country and for the first time in the United
Kingdom and Ireland, can expect a clash between the colossal and the
courageous.Titans are the former. With national reinforcements like AB de Villiers,
Morne Morkel and Farhaan Behardien, T20 heavyweights Albie Morkel,
Alfonso Thomas and the newly acquired Herschelle Gibbs, it seems they
could field an international quality side. De Villiers and Behardien
showed their importance when they ushered a tricky chase in
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