Olivier 5-For, Breetzke Century | Round 4 | Day 1 | 4-Day Series

We wrap up Day 1 of the fourth round of the 4-Day Series in which Duanne Olivier took a second five-wicket haul of the season and Matthew Breetzke amassed a second century of the season.

Warriors vs Western Province

The Warriors captain, Rudi Second, won the toss and chose to bat first at St. George’s Park cricket Stadium as the Warriors looked to improve their home record this season after they lost their last fixture at home to Lions. To their benefit, the groundsmen have prepared a fairly batter friendly wicket as compared to the green wicket they prepared against the Lions during the second round of the competition.

Matthew Breetzke’s second consecutive hundred was the highlight of the Warriors batting performance on Day 1. Breetzke was caught behind by wicket-keeper Daniel Smith on 100 runs off 202 deliveries. Rudi Second (76 off 136) and Lesiba Ngoepe (33 off 61) failed to convert their starts to big scores as the Warriors finished the day on 285-6.

North West Dragons vs Dolphins

The Dolphins had yet another rain/bad-light interrupted day in this year’s competition. This time around, their momentum was stopped with Captain Marques Ackerman unbeaten on 98 runs and Bryce Parsons unbeaten on 56, sharing a 101-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Earlier, Delano Potgieter ripped through the visitor’s batting order with a fine performance that saw him finish the day with figures of 3-34 in 14 overs. Proteas number three batter, Keegan Petersen, scored yet another half-century but failed to capitalize as Potgieter bowled him on 54 off 91 deliveries.

The Dolphins will start Day 2 on 213-3.

Lions vs Knights

The Lions are log leaders after three rounds thanks to their superb bowling attack that is spearheaded by Duanne Olivier. Olivier picked up his second five-wicket haul after suffering an onslaught from Jacques Snyman saw him being taken out of the attack with figures of 0-25 in 3 overs. The fast bowler made a superb comeback in his following spell finishing with 5-54 in 12.5 overs, which means he has 25 wickets in the competition in basically three & a half games.

The Knights were on 67-2 at one point but disappointingly collapsed to 124 all out. On the other hand, The Lions batters put on a decent performance as they posted 55-1 before bad light stopped play in Johannesburg.

Rocks vs Titans

The Titans had a horrible start with the bat today courtesy of a double-strike from opening bowlers Zakhele Qwabe and Hardus Viljoen which left the visitors wary on 9-2 after 2.1 overs. The previous game’s centurions, Grant Mokoena and Dean Elgar were dismissed cheaply for 4 runs and 5 runs respectively. Neil Brand was the standout batter with a gutsy 111 runs off 231 deliveries.

Qwabe finished the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4-40 in 16 overs, while Hardus Viljoen ended Day 1 with figures of 2-77. Mahima took the final wicket to end with 2/70. The Titans were all out for 308.

The Cobras will resume Day 2 on 0 after 2 overs.