Ken Borland

Titans batsmen Aiden Markram and Dayyaan Galiem came out after tea and sat in the dugout patiently waiting for the umpires to restart play on the second day of their Four-Day Franchise match against the Imperial Lions at the Wanderers on Wednesday, but it never happened as bad light prevented any further play.

With the morning being more suited to canoeing than cricket, play only got underway at 11.30am on Wednesday and then the rain returned at the tea break as only 200 minutes of action were possible on the second day.

The reason for Markram and Galiem’s eagerness to get back out on the park was because, at 169 for five, the Titans are just 24 runs short of ensuring they have enough bonus points to secure their place in the final next week, regardless of what happens in the Warriors match against the Dolphins.

Markram once again stood tall with the bat, scoring a wonderfully defiant 85 not out as Kagiso Rabada hollowed out the Titans innings with four for 32 in 18 overs.

Fellow fast bowler Lutho Sipamla claimed the other wicket to fall as he had Quinton de Kock caught in the slips, the left-hander having used his tree trunk bat to collect four fours in his 18.

The other notable action involving Proteas was when Rassie van der Dussen dropped Sibonelo Makhanya at first slip off Wiaan Mulder before he had scored; he went on to make 23. In the next over, with Markram on 59, Van der Dussen missed another chance off Rabada, which had the cellphones in the media centre abuzz with social media comments.

It got worse for the Lions when Reeza Hendricks dived across from second slip to catch Markram off Beuran Hendricks on 68, only for the left-arm paceman to have bowled a tight no-ball.

*At Newlands, the Knights must be heartily sick of the sight of opening batsman Pieter Malan, who has batted for 490 minutes and almost certainly dashed their final hopes.

Malan finished the second day on an epic 195 not out, steering the Cape Cobras to 382 for three, a lead of 201 runs.

Zubayr Hamza (86) and Kyle Verreynne (74*) helped plunder the Knights attack.

*St George’s Park is often one of the trickier destinations to go to, but the Dolphins have not only all but assured themselves of a place in the final but look almost certain to host it in Durban, as they dominated the second day against the Warriors.

Khaya Zondo led the way with a composed 111, a quality knock featuring 15 fours and three sixes to lift the Dolphins to 358, a first-innings lead of 234.

Zondo came to the crease on 107 for three with the dismissal of Senuran Muthusamy for 52, and had to stabilise matters after the visitors slipped to 194 for seven.

Keshav Maharaj once again shone with the bat, stroking 66 with 10 fours, as they added 132 for the eighth wicket.

The Warriors reached stumps on 88 without loss, with Ed Moore on 42* and Gihahn Cloete 39*.

It was a messy, messy day for South Africa in the field on the second day of the first Test against Pakistan in Karachi on Wednesday as they not only dropped catches and misfielded too often to maintain pressure, but they also wasted their three reviews and lost their way with the second new ball.

Having been bowled out for a disappointing 220 on the first day, the Proteas reduced Pakistan to 33 for four overnight and there were high hopes they would be able to bowl the home side out on Wednesday and get a handy lead.

Instead Pakistan, led by a superbly tenacious century by Fawad Alam, scored 275 runs in the day and lost just four wickets to reach 308 for eight at stumps, already leading by 88 – a sizeable lead.

The bowling effort, once again led by an unfortunate Kagiso Rabada, could not be faulted for much of the day, but they were not backed up by their fielders. Fawad, who was eventually dismissed for 109, was dropped on 37 at slip by Dean Elgar off Keshav Maharaj, a sharp chance that hit his boot because he could not get his hands down in time. Faheem Ashraf, who belted a belligerent 64 off 84 and shared the match-defining partnership thus far of 102 for the seventh wicket with Fawad, was dropped on 21 by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock off Rabada. It was a tough, low chance diving to his left, but South Africa’s captain has taken those more often than not.

Another anomaly occurred late in the day when Hasan Ali, on 6, skied Maharaj over mid-on and Faf du Plessis, running back, could not get a hand on it. The hard-hitting Hasan has the ability to hurt South Africa further on the third day as he is 11 not out at stumps.

Skipper De Kock was also not at his best when using South Africa’s reviews, gambling and losing all three of them.

While South Africa have lost many great cricketers in recent years in both the batting and bowling departments, they also seem to have lost much of the fielding prowess that used to make them the benchmark. There were several intense spells by the bowlers, but too often the pressure was released by a fielding error which allowed the strike to be rotated.

South Africa were still eyeing a lead when Pakistan were 176 for six, and they took the second new ball three overs late when Fawad and Faheem had already lifted the score to 214 for six. Maharaj surprisingly kept bowling, even part-time offie Aiden Markram had a go, and within 10 overs the home side had raced to 259 for six.

Nevertheless, Maharaj, who also bowled Hasan late in the day but had delivered a no-ball, said it was still within South Africa’s capability to win the game.

“The pitch still looks pretty good, there are some footmarks but it’s just the usual wear and tear, and we will just try and bat for as long as possible. I don’t know how much the pitch will deteriorate by the end of the third day, but Fawad showed that if you apply yourself you can get runs. There was not as much turn today as you might have expected seeing Yasir Shah on the first day, but he is a wrist-spinner.

“So it was a decent day for us, we controlled the run-rate really well, we did not let it get out of hand and it’s still less than three. So the bowling unit really did a good job and I thought we fielded pretty well. Yes, there were some slumps, and some catches were dropped, but that’s expected, there are always going to be a few half-chances,” Maharaj said.

Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne is standing between the Proteas and victory in the second Test as he scored 91 not out to shepherd his team to 150 for four, a lead of five runs, at stumps on the second day at the Wanderers on Monday.

Karunaratne is certainly leading from the front as he has occupied the crease for 190 minutes, but the left-hander is putting away the bad ball effectively as he has collected 17 fours off 116 deliveries. With Sri Lanka trailing by 145 runs on first innings and losing master blaster opener Kusal Perera for just a single in the third over, bowled through the gate by a beautiful Lungi Ngidi delivery, it has been important for Karunaratne to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

Niroshan Dickwella is with him on 18*.

South Africa’s inexperienced attack endured a flat period as Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne (31) added 85 for the second wicket following the dismissal of Kusal, and it took a big moment of good fortune for the Proteas to shift the momentum.

Thirimanne, who had played a series of superb drives, tried to glance Ngidi off his hip and was caught down the leg side by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock. Amazingly, Ngidi’s next delivery was similarly off-target but it dismissed Kusal Mendis for a first-ball duck, De Kock taking a stunning leg-side catch diving at full-length. The unfortunate Mendis therefore completed a pair and his third successive duck.

Anrich Nortje then bounced out debutant Minod Bhanuka for 1, Keshav Maharaj taking a brilliant running catch off a top-edged hook, and the Proteas attack looked much more threatening in the last hour of the day, but by then the luck seemed to have shifted and several edges went over the slips or through the gaps between them.

South Africa had begun the second day on 148 for one, just nine runs behind and with both Dean Elgar, on 92 and Rassie van der Dussen, on 40, approaching milestones.

Elgar reached the landmark of three figures first, notching the second-fastest of his 13 Test centuries as he got there in 133 balls, with 18 fours. Van der Dussen went to his half-century off 98 deliveries and the pair passed South Africa’s record second-wicket partnership against Sri Lanka (125 between Elgar & Faf du Plessis in Galle in 2014) and then also broke the Wanderers record of 182 set by Andrew Strauss and Rob Key for England back in 2004/5.

Elgar scored the couple of runs that took the partnership to 184, but he was dismissed by the next delivery, Dushmantha Chameera bowling a fine delivery that just nipped away a touch to find the edge of the left-hander’s bat. Elgar was caught at first slip for 127, ending four hours of quality batsmanship in which he showed a tremendous ability to bat fluently, absorb pressure and then lift the scoring rate again.

The wicket of Van der Dussen followed in the next over, Sri Lanka needing good use of the review system to confirm the 31-year-old had gloved a paddle-pull down the leg side off Dasun Shanaka, wicketkeeper Dickwella scrambling to take the catch.

Sri Lanka then quickly ran through the rest of the Proteas batting, the last nine wickets falling for just 84 runs as they were bowled out for 302, left-arm swing bowler Vishwa Fernando leading an excellent bowling comeback with five for 101, his maiden five-wicket haul.

He was well supported by skilful seamer Shanaka and feisty debutant Asitha Fernando, who took two wickets each.

ERPM Golf Club is one of the most prestigious courses in Gauteng but MJ Viljoen tamed it for the second day in succession on Thursday as he fired a five-under-par 67 to go to 13-under overall, enjoying a two-shot lead going into the final round of the Vodacom Championship Unlocked.

ERPM has been home for such famous golfers as Denis Hutchinson, Neville Sundelson, Neville Clarke, Dean van Staden, John Bland and Brett Liddle, but the 25-year-old Viljoen, who played much of his junior golf here, is seemingly the new darling of the Boksburg club judging by the warm reception he received when he arrived at the clubhouse in late afternoon with a handy lead over Jake Redman, who also shot a 67 on Thursday.

Viljoen’s round was built around a blazing run around the turn, which includes some of ERPM’s most notorious holes, as he collected five birdies in six holes from the water-lined eighth. It was a fabulous addition to the superb 64 he shot in the opening round.

“The whole front nine was actually very nice, I played brilliant golf but the putts just didn’t go in. And then I was a bit scruffy on the last five holes when I lost focus a bit, this is a little course but it takes it out of you. I felt I could have birdied every hole on the front nine, that’s how close I was hitting it, even though it was quite windy and gusty as well today, and the greens are starting to get firm.

“So I started playing five metres short because the greens are getting bouncy, tougher and tougher. I had a couple of good lines with the putter but my stroke did not feel as good as yesterday, I was pulling or pushing a couple of putts. It’s not easy backing up a 64, but I told myself to play like I was two-over-par, so I was in the mental state to do something good,” Viljoen said.

Apart from Redman, who eagled the par-five second, Viljoen will also have the evergreen order of merit leader Darren Fichardt, three shots behind after a brilliant 66, and the experienced duo of Danie van Tonder and Neil Schietekat, who both shot 70s to lie five shots back, to worry about in the final round.

Viljoen’s previous Sunshine Tour title came when he came from behind with a 65 to win the Sun Fish River Challenge three years ago, so now he is going to have to lead from the front if he is to become a multi-winner on tour.

“I’m just going to go out and enjoy myself. I feel I’m on the right track so I’m not going to be hassled if I’m having a bad round. I haven’t been in this position before, I like to think that I’m well-controlled under pressure, but that’s something I’ll think about when I go to bed this evening,” Viljoen said on Thursday afternoon.

“Hopefully they’ll put some water on the greens overnight and I’m going to come half-an-hour earlier to try and get my putting stroke again, that sort of thing you need to fix as soon as possible but I know exactly what I’m doing wrong. I’m not going to chase a good round, but just try and hit greens and get the putts in.”