When Day three gets underway at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Friday, the Lions will be the happier team courtesy of a patient century from opening batter Joshua Richards (107 off 201), a knock that saw the Lions have the upper hand of the action on Thursday.
Richards was resolute in his innings and despite losing partners at regular intervals at the other end, Richards weathered the storm and guided the Lions to 293 all-out, handing the visitors a crucial 66-run first innings lead.
Junior Dala (6-58) was the chief destroyer for the Titans as the right-arm quick picked up a six-for to keep the Lions’ lead within reach late on Day two.
With a little over a half-an-hour left in the Day’s play, the Titans’ opening batters Matthew Kleinveldt (6 off 5) and Joshua van Heerden (14* off 38) took to the crease and were met with accurate bowling from Lions seamer Codi Yusuf.
Yusuf (1-15) got the better of Kleinveldt in the very first over, inducing a healthy edge off Kleinveldt’s bat to hand the Lions their first wicket. His new ball partner, Delano Potgieter (1-8), accounted for Musa Twala to leave the Titans in trouble on 35-2, with a 31-run deficit staring at them heading into today's action.
Down in Cape Town, Western Province’s dominance with the bat carried over to Day two as batters Gavin Kaplan (173 off 298) and Kyle Verreynne (135 off 142) pushed the hosts to 592-6 declared against the Dolphins at Newlands.
Exhausted from standing almost 150 overs on the field over the two days, the Dolphins had a contrasting return with the bat as they were restricted to 175-5 at close of play on Day two.
Despite the promising 46-run opening stand between Sarel Erwee (32 off 49) and Tshepang Dithole (21 off 28), and the 56-run partnership between Marques Ackerman (45 off 49) and Bryce Parsons (44 off 54), there wasn’t much else to boost about from the visiting batting order.
As a result, the Dolphins will start Day three behind by a mammoth 416 runs.
In Pietermaritzburg, Tristan Stubbs (302 off 372) became the first Eastern Province and Warriors batter to score a triple century as bad light forced the umpires to call stumps early yet again, with the Warriors on 517-3. Breetzke fell 12 runs shy from a maiden double century and put together a 473-run stand alongside Stubbs, the second highest partnership in Division One cricket.
In Paarl, the North-West Dragons are in control of their encounter against the Rocks having scored 483 runs in the first innings, before going on to reduce the Rocks to 127-5 at close of play on Day two.
When Day three gets underway, the Dragons will take comfort in their 357-run lead and will back themselves to claim the remaining five wickets with a healthy first innings lead.
IOL Sport