Brown fights a lone hand as he keeps Lions at bay
DARRYL BROWN’S unbeaten fifty kept the Chevrolet Warriors’ first innings alive at Buffalo Park as the bizhub Highveld Lions maintained their good bowling form in the Sunfoil Series.
Brown’s first half-century in the competition patched together an otherwise underwhelming Warriors effort, as the hosts went to stumps on 279/9 after they had lost the toss and been inserted by the Lions.
The all-rounder was 50 not out when bad light halted play with 16 overs still remaining in the day, while Basheeru-Deen Walters was unbeaten on nine.
That left the Warriors to reflect on a disappointing day that saw Michael Price (47), Somila Seyibokwe (37), Colin Ingram (40) and Andrew Birch (37) all make starts, only to lose their wickets at moments when the hosts were fighting their way back to parity.
Sean Jamison was a slightly surprising inclusion in the Lions side, but he justified his selection by dismissing the top three, before a middle-order collapse saw the Warriors lose four wickets for 21 runs.
Chris Morris (2/18 from 15 overs) was the chief architect of that, having both Ingram and debutant Luthando Mnyanda caught behind after Eddie Leie had made the key breakthrough by bowling Seyibokwe just as the War- riors were making a comeback.
Brown and Birch combined for the day’s most significant partnership when they added 55 for the seventh wicket, but Kagiso Rabada (2/46) snuffed out that fightback when he dismissed Birch and then bowled Sisanda Magala.
A strong all-round bowling performance from The Unlimited Titans saw them dismiss the Nashua Cape Cobras for just 308 and take the honours from day one at Boland Park.
Rowan Richards led the pack with a three-wicket haul as the Cobras were dismissed in 83.4 overs, before the Titans advanced to 45 without loss at the close of play.
Justin Ontong, Dane Vilas, Rory Kleinveldt and Mthokozisi Shezi all returned to the Cobras line-up after missing last week’s game in Kimberley, but the home side’s innings was a story of missed opportunities, with all but one of their batsmen reaching double figures and only Dane Piedt (66) scoring more than 35.
They made a steady enough start after winning the toss and electing to bat by reaching 72/1, only to fall to 144/6 as Richards (3/91) claimed three key wickets.
Having found the edge of Stiaan van Zyl’s bat during his first spell, the left-armer returned to pick up the wickets of Ontong and Andrew Puttick later on.
It was left to the tail to carry the Cobras to a respectable total, with Piedt rallying his fellow bowlers as he shared a 61-run stand for the ninth wicket with Travis Muller (35) and then added 49 for the final wicket with Dane Paterson.
Paterson was 24 not out when Piedt was run out to bring the innings to a close, leaving the Titans with 10 overs to bat.
With Heino Kuhn forced out by a back problem, Theunis de Bruyn moved up to open the batting alongside Dean Elgar and the pair made a confident start.
Both batsmen went to stumps unbeaten on 22, with De Bruyn needing just 25 deliveries to score his runs, meaning the Titans will begin day two trailing by 263 runs.
Divan van Wyk’s unbeaten century led the way as the Sunfoil Dolphins made a steady start against the Chevrolet Knights at Sahara Stadium Kingsmead.
A day after celebrating his 30th birthday, Van Wyk batted through the 96 overs to register his 16th first-class century and go to stumps on 109 not out, as the Dolphins reached 240/3.
With the Dolphins 105/3 the Knights had their noses in front, but Daryn Smit joined Van Wyk in a patient stand that saw the Dolphins through to stumps.
Van Wyk took 272 balls for his innings, while Smit went to stumps on 60 not out from 166 deliveries.