Boland’s Grant Roelofsen and Gavin Kaplan dominated proceedings at the home of the North West Dragons to finish on top in their Four-Day Series clash at the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom yesterday.
North West were jubilant early in the innings after Ruan de Swardt saw off dangerous opening batter Pieter Malan for a duck after they lost the toss and had to field first.
None of them would have been ready for what was to follow as the Western Cape side, with Roelofsen and Kaplan scoring a mammoth 390 runs in their third-wicket partnership.
De Swardt (2/58) toiled hard all day, and got just rewards as the new ball was approaching to finally break the partnership, dismissing Kaplan caught and bowled for a well-played 166 (off 238 balls, 23x4).
The Dragons failed to pick up wickets, but they also couldn’t contain the run-scoring as both centurions maintained a more than healthy rate of around 4.5 to the over.
Roelofsen was unbeaten on 227 (off 282 balls, 26x4, 8x6) when stumps were called, and he went past his previous career first-class highest score of 224 to leave the visitors in a dominant position on 427/2 at the close.
Meanwhile, the Lions had to toil hard for their 291 all out against the Warriors at the Wanderers yesterday.
In-form opener Dominic Hendricks (89) followed up his century against Western Province with another solid half-century on a day where the Lions weren’t at their best with the bat, but managed to post a competitive score.
Contributions down the order from captain Bjorn Fortuin (50) and Cody Yusuf (30) helped the home side get to a decent total when stumps were called.
The Lions, with Fortuin leading the way, continued to battle hard, and once again their tail wagged and provided some useful runs, with the last five wickets having contributed 124.
Beyers Swanepoel was the pick of the visitors’ bowlers with impressive figures of 5/61.
Elsewhere, the Dolphins settled well in Bloemfontein and had a decent first day in their clash against the Knights at the Mangaung Oval.
Centuries from Tshepang Dithole (104) and Slade van Staden (111) gave the visitors the upper hand at the close of play, having only lost four wickets with 374 on the board.
Van Staden scored his maiden first-class century and, together with Dithole, combined for a third-wicket stand of 161 after they lost Sarel Erwee early for 23.
Bryce Parsons (78) and Romashan Pillay (41) will be unbeaten at the start of day two, with the Dolphins holding a lead big enough for them to dictate terms for the rest of the match.
Malusi Siboto was the pick of the Knights bowlers (2/30) on a day where the home side struggled to make inroads into the visitors’ batting line-up.