Momentum Multiply Titans spinner Tsepo Ndwandwa bagged five wickets to help dismiss the Knights for 193 to give his side the edge after day two of their CSA 4-Day Series match at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday.
In reply, the Titans were 51-3 at stumps.
With a healthy lead of 114 runs, the home side's second innings got off to a poor start as they lost three early wickets, before they rallied to end the day with a 165-run lead.
Matthew Pollard sparked the Knights' fightback as he bowled opener Joshua van Heerden (7), pinned Keegan Petersen (2) LBW and had Dewald Brevis (4) caught by Patrick Botha, to reduce the Titans to 31-3.
But captain Neil Brand (27*) and Jhedli van Briesies (7*) then battened down the hatches and took the hosts to the close without further trouble.
At the start of the post tea session the Knights resumed their first innings on 157-8, looking to get as many runs as possible to reduce the deficit on the Titans' 307 in their first innings.
Tiaan van Vuuren (29) was key in helping them almost get to 200, as he shared in a 29-run ninth-wicket stand with Dane Piedt (16), before the Knights captain was caught by Petersen off the bowling of Merrick Brett.
Van Vuuren also shared a 19-run last-wicket partnership with Malusi Siboto (2*) before the former was last man out, caught by Brevis off Tsepo Ndwandwa.
Spinner Ndwandwa ended as the Titans' star bowler with figures of 5-33, while Merrick Brett, 3-46, and Matthew Boast, 2-33, backed him up well.
INNINGS: Tsepo Ndwandwa’s 5-33 sees us bowl the Knights out for 193 runs and they trail by 114.
— Momentum Multiply Titans (@Titans_Cricket) November 20, 2024
Merrick Brett contributed 3-46 and Matthew Boast 2-33. #4DaySeries pic.twitter.com/VUSVmZ6lob
TITANS SPINNER RUNS RIOT
Earlier in the day the Knights reached lunch in an okay position on 109-3, but endured a torrid early afternoon session as they lost five wickets for the addition of just 48 runs.
In the post lunch session Dian Forrester (28) and Botha (31) resumed their innings and extended their fourth-wicket partnership to 41 runs.
Forrester was then the first wicket of the session, trapped LBW by Brett, leaving his side on 127-4.
Botha was going to be needed if the Knights were to produce a fightback, but he was next to fall, stumped by keeper Rivaldo Moonsamy after coming down the wicket at Ndwandwa, which sparked a collapse of four wickets for five runs.
Ndwandwa was the bowler running riot as he bowled Pollard (4), had Garnett Tarr (2) caught by Corbin Bosch and had Aaron Phangiso caught by Van Briesies for a fifth-ball duck as they crashed to 145-8, before Van Vuuren and Piedt took their side to tea.
In the morning session the Knights essentially started their innings from scratch after bowling out the Titans for 307 at the end of day one, and getting through the final over of the day without scoring or losing a wicket.
Opener Isaac Dikgale (5) was first to fall in the third over, caught by Van Briesies off the bowling of Boast, with the score 9-1.
Lesego Senokwane (34) and Aubrey Swanepoel (28) combined for a decent 53-run second-wicket stand, with Swanepoel the aggressor as he struck six boundaries in his 27-ball stay, before he edged Brett to keeper Moonsamy to leave them on 62-2.
Senokwane and Forrester could only add 24 to the total, before Boast bowled the opener, leaving Forrester and Botha to take their side to lunch.
MOMENTUM MULTIPLY TITANS: Neil Brand (capt), Joshua van Heerden, Keegan Petersen, Dewald Brevis, Jhedli van Briesies, Rivaldo Moonsamy (wk), Andile Phehlukwayo, Corbin Bosch, Matthew Boast, Junior Dala, Tsepo Ndwandwa
KNIGHTS: Isaac Dikgale, Lesego Senokwane, Garnett Tarr (wk), Aubrey Swanepoel, Dian Forrester, Patrick Botha, Tiaan van Vuuren, Matthew Pollard, Aaron Phangiso, Dane Piedt (capt), Malusi Siboto