Ken Borland

Theunis de Bruyn decided today was the day to return to form as his commanding, unbeaten innings of 92 put the Northerns Titans in a strong position after the second day of their crucial CSA 4-Day Series match against the Central Gauteng Lions at SuperSport Park on Saturday.

Replying to the Lions’ first innings of 270, Northerns had reached 261/3 when bad light brought the day’s action to a close with just over an hour still scheduled to be played.

De Bruyn, who had scored just 67 runs in four previous innings in the competition this season, came to the crease in the second hour of the day following opener Grant Mokoena’s dismissal for 25, bowled by arguably the ball of the day from Cody Yousuf. The former Proteas batsman played himself in solidly, reaching 16 not out by lunch.

The Titans’ other opener, Neil Brand, had reached a composed half-century by then and the pair of lanky batsmen rammed home their advantage after lunch as they took their second-wicket partnership to 95 before Brand was caught at a deepish square-leg off Malusi Siboto for 81. The left-hander played an excellent innings, but greater things beckoned.

De Bruyn batted on and was left on the brink of his first century since May 2021 when he lashed 113 not out off just 64 balls for SA A against Zimbabwe A. He has faced 168 deliveries and struck eight fours and four imperious sixes.

Heinrich Klaasen (35) helped him in a third-wicket stand of 55 and Sibonelo Makhanya (20*) has so far added 41 with De Bruyn for the fourth wicket.

The Eastern Province Warriors, who are also trying to overtake the Lions at the top of the log, were also frustrated by the weather in Bloemfontein as they reached 166/3 in reply to the Free State Knights’ 227 all out.

Rudi Second (59*) and Diego Rosier (50*) had both scored half-centuries and shared an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 99 as EP also put themselves in a powerful position. If they win their last match and the Lions lose to the Titans, then the Warriors will claim the four-day title.

Earlier, Free State had resumed on 198/7 and once Patrick Botha was caught behind off Tiaan van Vuuren for a defiant and dazzling 123, the rest of the innings folded quickly.

The same bowlers did the damage for Eastern Province as on the first day, with Van Vuuren taking 4/46 in 19 overs and Akhona Mnyaka (15-1-54-3) and Mthiwekhaya Nabe (16-3-45-3) sharing the other six wickets.

Scores in brief for other matches

KZN Dolphins 422 (Grant Roelofsen 49, Keegan Petersen 123, Andile Phehlukwayo 107, Prenelan Subrayen 51; Achille Cloete 3/58, Shaun von Berg 3/134) v Boland 129/1 (Pieter Malan 74*, Stiaan van Zyl 40*).

Western Province 576 (Jonathan Bird 128, Yaseen Vallie 44, Gavin Kaplan 73, Daniel Smith 153, George Linde 70; Delano Potgieter 6/87) v North-West 124/3 (Lesego Senokwane 57*; George Linde 2/33).

Bulls coach Jake White praised his team for their determination to not just lie down and die after Morne Steyn’s red card against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld, even though he admitted their lack of finishing and ultimate defeat leaves them in a very difficult position in the United Rugby Championship.

The Bulls had to play for 70 minutes without their talismanic flyhalf after he was permanently sent off for a late, high tackle that struck the neck of Lukhanyo Am. But a tremendous effort and some superb rugby saw them come back from 26-12 down, eventually losing 22-29 with several scoring chances left on the table.

“I’m really proud of the way the team fought back,” White said, “because some teams just lay down and die after a red card. Your flyhalf runs everything, and Morne is the best kicker in the competition and we missed three conversions. Kick those and we would have won.

“It’s never nice to lose, we don’t feel good, but there’s a lot to be positive about. You lose your flyhalf for 70 minutes and still score four tries against probably the best team on paper in South Africa.

“It was not the result we wanted, but you can’t question the players’ commitment. We just needed to be more clinical in their 22, we managed to pin them there for long periods of time.

“We had enough opportunities in the 22, but things went wrong with our maul and some of our ball-carries. But I’m very confident with where we are going with this team,” White said.

The former Springbok coach expressed his surprise that the Bulls did not see more reward from referee AJ Jacobs either for their rolling maul or their concerted pressure on the Sharks’ tryline.

“We ran 40 metres with our maul and got no reward, which I can’t understand,” White said. “We also had a half-a-dozen penalties on their tryline.

“Our forward pack did not take a step backwards and we showed that we can dominate against a team that is like the Springboks side.

“I thought Robert Hunt and Jacques van Rooyen did well today against the incumbent Springbok front row and we are much better off in terms of scrummaging than we were seven weeks ago.

“But this loss puts us in a very difficult position. Our backs are against the wall for the first time for this group. But good teams find a way of making the playoffs and our challenge now is to find the low road,” White said.

As usual, it was the home team who adjusted best to tricky conditions at the Wanderers as the Central Gauteng Lions ended the first day of their CSA Four-Day Domestic Series match against the North-West Dragons in a commanding position.

Having bowled North-West out for just 159, they had reached 127 for two at stumps.

On a pitch that offered late movement, the Lions won a good toss and sent North-West in to bat under overcast skies.

Former Lions franchise player Wesley Marshall put them under early pressure though, blazing his way to 52 off just 36 balls, including three fours and two sixes off Lutho Sipamla’s third over.

But the Lions pacemen adapted to the onslaught and quickly found the right length to bowl.

Duanne Olivier probed intelligently and marked his return to domestic cricket with four for 50, while Sipamla rebounded to take three for 68. Sisanda Magala also kept the batsmen thinking with two for 24.

Nicky van den Bergh, a real stalwart of the former Lions franchise, was the only other North-West batsman to prosper, scoring 41.

The North-West bowlers were too inconsistent to apply the same amount of pressure and the Lions top-order played with composure and good judgement.

Josh Richards was going through the gears before he was trapped lbw by Lwandiswa Zuma for 56, sharing an opening stand of 73 with skipper Dominic Hendricks (26).

Ryan Rickelton (33*) will be the batsman to lead the charge on Saturday morning.

At Centurion, the Eastern Province Warriors are in charge against the Northerns Titans, with a first-innings lead of 62 already with six wickets in hand.

Sent in to bat first, Northerns were bundled out for a paltry 134, new-ball bowlers Glenton Stuurman (13-4-34-5) and Marco Jansen (11.2-2-31-3) taking command.

Jordan Hermann, playing his first senior game for the Titans, was their top-scorer with a brave 50 not out.

Eastern Province were in early trouble as Corbin Bosch reduced them to 25 for three, but opener Ed Moore batted through to stumps with a defiant 85 not out, while Diego Rosier scored an aggressive 85 off just 104 balls as the Warriors took control at 196 for four.

Cape Town’s weather was still moulting from winter to summer on Friday morning, the start of play being delayed in the match between KZN Dolphins and Western Province.

Eventually 72 overs were able to be bowled, with KZN reaching 186 for four. Bryce Parsons (45), Keegan Petersen (56) and Jason Smith (44*) all looked at ease after the visitors were sent in to bat.

No play at all was possible in the match between the Free State Knights and the Boland Rocks in Bloemfontein.

JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng (23 October) – Louis Albertse notched his first Sunshine Tour title five weeks ago at Mount Edgecombe and is in prime position to add a second on Sunday after a top-class round of six-under-par 66 gave him a one-stroke lead after three days of the Blair Atholl Championship on Saturday.

Albertse’s remarkable round on a blustery day on one of the longest courses on tour included a double-bogey on the par-three 17^th, when he found the large greenside bunker, but that was the sandwich in a pair of birdies on 16 and 18.

An eagle on the par-five fifth gave the winner of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event at Mount Edgecombe some momentum and a pair of birdies took him to the turn on four-under for the day.

The 25-year-old from Dundee then birdied the next two holes as well, soaring up the leaderboard when the second-round frontrunners could not make much headway on a testing day.

“This is a long course, the wind was tricky and I didn’t always get it right, but tough conditions get me going and to shoot six-under was very pleasing,” Albertse said. “There are more scoring opportunities on the front, but the back nine is harder, there are a few really long par-fours and the wind got up. But I still played really nicely.

“It’s hard to get close when you’re hitting five or six irons in, so it helps when your putter gets hot and to have just 24 putts today was very nice.”

Anton Haig had three successive bogeys from the 15^th hole to shoot a level-par 72 and stay two shots back on seven-under, Rupert Kaminski also remaining on his second-round score.

Jayden Schaper was putting together a great round, six-under-par through 10 holes to take the lead, but the highly-rated youngster then suffered a meltdown, dropping five shots in the last four holes as he came home in 42, finishing the third round on five-under for the tournament.

Albertse is being pursued though by two hugely experienced golfers in Ulrich van den Berg and Trevor Fisher Junior, who are both just one stroke behind after shooting 68s on Saturday.

Van den Bergh is an eight-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, although it is more than seven years since he last took the honours, at Euphoria Golf Club, also in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series.

Fisher Junior is in a good run of form with four consecutive top-20 finishes and is a nine-time winner on tour.

A dozen golfers are within four shots of the lead and the Blair Atholl Championship is set for a thrilling conclusion on Sunday.

But Albertse is already in the top-10 of the order of merit in a breakthrough season for the third-year pro, he is high on confidence and good in the wind.

“Winning before changes your frame of mind a bit, you know you can do it, you did it once so you can do it again. It frees up your game a bit and you give yourself more chances,” Albertse said.