It was a relief for everyone involved when bad light stopped play about 40 minutes after tea on the final day of the Supersport Series match between the Titans and the Warriors at Supersport Park on Sunday.
The captains shook hands and agreed that no result was possible. When the match was called off, the Warriors were 84 for three in their second innings, for an overall lead of 101.
A total of 1163 runs were scored in the match, with two players - Ashwell Prince of the Warriors and Heino Kuhn of the Titans - making doubles centuries. Prince, in his new role as opener, was finally out for 254, while Kuhn made 206 -10 short of his highest score, which he made against the Dolphins in Pietermaritzburg in 2006/07.
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The Titans resumed play on 399 for five, with Kuhn on 182. He reached his double century off 382 balls, hitting 25 fours and two sixes. Twenty minutes after lunch, the Warriors finally bowled the Titans out for 531, giving the visitors a first innings lead of just 17 runs.
The pitch was a batsman's paradise - Prince said after his mammoth innings that it was so good to bat on that he would not be surprised if another batsman passed his total. But it did little to promote four-day cricket - it was evident from day two that the match was likely to end in a draw.
Even some of the players showed their boredom - Makhaya Ntini kept himself amused by beating out a rhythm on the advertising boards surrounding the field and shouting encouragement to his teammates.
Match referee Dev Govindjee said that when he and the umpires inspected the wicket before the start of the match, they had expected it to start breaking up on the third and fourth days.
"But the overcast conditions meant that this did not happen," he said. - Sapa
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