With the first round of the CSA 4-Day Series having wrapped up on Monday, there saw some notable performances and well-earned wins for the Warriors, KZN Inland and the Lions.
Titans vs Warriors – Warriors won by 1 wicket.
This encounter, which took place at Centurion, was at a knife’s edge heading into the final day’s play, as the Warriors needed 56 runs for victory with only three wickets in hand.
Lesiba Ngoepe and Tiaan van Vuuren started proceedings, but the former’s wicket was dispatched relatively early on, as the Eastern Cape outfit began staring down the barrel. However, his score of 52 contributed well for the side at the backend of their innings.
Van Vuuren remained at the crease, while Glenton Stuurman was picked off for 6. With one wicket in hand, the game was hanging in the balance.
But Van Vuuren’s steady knock of 32 not out was enough to guide the team home, along with Mthiwekhaya Nabe’s unbeaten 10.
Titans 134 + 359 (Makhanya 74, Hermann 62 – Nabe 4/89)
Warriors 258 + 236/9 (Jansen 55, Ngoepe 52 – Dala 3/59)
North West vs Lions – Lions won by an innings and 72 runs
The Lions pummeled the North West after having batted second and posted a formidable 408 all out, which proved to be steep for the Dragons to surpass even in their combined two innings.
The game was highlighted by Ryan Rickelton’s 159, which came to a halt after being unluckily run out.
Nicky van den Bergh scored a gutsy 70 not out in the Dragons’ pursuit to levelling the playing field, but it was to no avail for the side.
North West 159 + 177 (Van den Bergh 70* – Magala 2/36)
Lions 408 (Rickelton 159, Richards 56, Siboto 52 – Jansen 2/51, Muthusamy 2/61)
KZN Inland vs Easterns – KZN Inland won by an innings and 109 runs
KZN Inland posted a mammoth 440/6 before declaring, which was the right timing as Easterns fell well short against the Inland’s deathly bowling attack, accentuated by Keith Dudgeon’s 4/25 and Michael Erlank’s 5/67.
Luke Schlemmer led the way with the bat, scoring 153, which was backed up strongly by Andile Mokgakane’s 98, Tian Koekemoer’s 64 and Cameron Delport’s 65.
Easterns struggled immensely to get going, but Jurie Snyman’s 64 and Wesley Coulentianos’s 62 in the second innings showed much bite in their attempted survival.
KZN Inland 440/6 (Schlemmer 153, Mokgakane 98, Koekemoer 64, Delport 65 – Tlhokwe 2/57, August 2/97)
Easterns 107 + 224 (Snyman 64, Coulentianos 62 – Erlank 5/67, Dudgeon 3/32)
The Border/Limpopo, Knights/Boland and Dolphins/WP matches all ended in a draw.
The Dolphins were unlucky not to win in Cape Town, having needed to take just three wickets for victory on the final day, but the subsequent rain favoured the home side and came as a blessing to halt proceedings.
The Border/Limpopo contest went right down to the wire and if several more overs were allowed in the final spell there would have certainly been a result.
In the second innings, Limpopo needed 391 runs to win, but they ended on 377/8 – agonizingly short but a thrilling finish regardless. Malcolm Nofal scored a solid 96 not out, while Gideon Peters (3/51) and Thomas Kaber (3/101) spearheaded Border’s bowling attack.
In the Knights/Boland match-up there just simply was not enough estate to garner a result. Batting second, Boland posted a massive 520/9 declared, thanks to Janneman Malan’s 200* and Ferisco Adams’s 127.
After the Knights amassed 320 in the first innings, they didn’t have enough to time to contend with Boland’s pillar of strength. The Free State side ended the final day on 143/2.
STUURMAN IMPRESSIVE | DAY 1 | 4-DAY SERIES
KHAYA ZONDO SCORES DOUBLE TON | 4-DAY SERIES | DAY 2
JANNEMAN MALAN SCORES 139 | DAY 3 | 4-DAY SERIES
Photo: Christiaan Kotze/BackpagePix
