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Despite the best efforts of their bowlers, the Highveld Lions were denied a crucial victory by the weather in their four-day domestic franchise series match against the Titans at the Wanderers on Sunday.

When bad light and then rain stopped play just after 4pm on the final day, the Titans were reeling on 137 for seven in their follow-on innings, still facing a deficit of 46 runs. With rain having also stopped play for two hours earlier in the afternoon, the Lions could obviously feel aggrieved that the weather had cost them victory and a vital extra 10 log points.

The effect of the draw is to leave the Lions still 13 points behind the log-leading Cape Cobras, but with a game in hand.

The weekend victories of the Dolphins over the Cobras (by 15 runs) and the Warriors over the Knights (by 10 wickets) have turned the series into a three-horse race. The Eastern Cape franchise now trails the Cobras by just 0.18 points.

Leg-spinner Imran Tahir quickly wrapped up the Titans first innings on Sunday morning, taking the last two wickets as the visitors were dismissed for just 120, 183 runs behind the Lions’ first innings of 303.

The home side enforced the follow-on and young fast bowlers Chris Morris and Hardus Viljoen shared six wickets as the Titans’ batsmen once again struggled to cope with the movement and bounce on offer under overcast skies.

Morris bowled Pieter Malan for a single in the third over but Jacques Rudolph (25) and Henry Davids (41), the Titans’ two members of the national squad, added 61 for the second wicket.

But Viljoen removed Rudolph, who edged a superb delivery that drew him forward and then nipped away into the gloves of Dominic Hendricks, keeping wicket as Thami Tsolekile rests an ankle strain, in the first over of the afternoon session.

Morris then claimed the important wicket of Davids five overs later, trapped lbw, and with Heino Kuhn (12) and David Wiese (3) also falling cheaply, the Lions were in obvious control when rain interrupted play just after the drinks break with the Titans on 128 for five.

The players returned after two hours, but the respite from the rain only lasted 13 minutes, with the Lions managing to claim the wickets of Roelof van der Merwe (4) and Shaun von Berg (5) in that time.

But the weather would have the final say as Viljoen finished with three for 25 in 13 overs and Morris took three for 54.

Mangaliso Mosehle was denying the Lions attack with 30 not out, but the Titans only had the tail left to bat.

Zander de Bruyn was named the man of the match for his important innings of 65 and his two valuable wickets in the first innings.

Jose-Maria Olazabal enjoyed the milder weather at Fancourt on Friday as he fired a five-under-par 68 to move into contention after the second round of the Volvo Golf Champions at the Links.

Olazabal moved to seven-under overall, five shots off the scorching pace set by Branden Grace, who was on 12-under with two holes to play.

“Today was a little better, the last two days have been very hot and humid and I struggled a bit. There was a bit more wind today, but overall the conditions were pretty benign,” a happy Olazabal said after his round.

The Spaniard made the elite 35-man field thanks to his 22 career wins on the European Tour, but a bad recent run has seen him slip to number 596 on the world rankings, so Friday’s round provided a welcome return to form.

“The bar wasn’t very high to begin with, so improving on my recent form wasn’t difficult! The last couple of years, I’ve been playing very poorly and I need to improve my driving. I hit lovely shots on the range, but it’s harder to take those on to the course. But there are at least some signs on the range that it’s coming right, so that makes it easier,” Olazabal said.

Of course, Olazabal doesn’t just have his own testing times to worry about on the golf course these days – as Europe’s Ryder Cup captain, he also has to study the form of his potential players. The two-time Masters champion said it was important for him to focus on keeping his own play up to scratch as the team captain.

“I made it very clear in September that there is no way I will play in the team, but I would still love to be competitive because then I get to play with my boys and see how they’re doing in this important year,” Olazabal said.

The 45-year-old is playing at Fancourt for the first time and is clearly impressed with the course and estate.

“The practice facilities are fantastic and the whole setting is really beautiful. The set-up of the course is also great and done in a way that you get reward for good shots. And if you miss a shot, you’ll be in trouble, which is fair.

“It’s a great test and we’ve been playing off the forward tees. I can’t imagine how tough it must be off the back tees! But it’s a great course and I would recommend it to anyone,” Olazabal said.

Charl Schwartzel was one of the earlier finishers in Friday’s weather-ruined second round of the Joburg Open, but the defending champion now faces an anxious wait to see if he will be exiting the tournament at the halfway stage.

Schwartzel struggled around the East Course for a first-round 72 and then shot a three-under-par 68 on the easier West Course on Friday in what he termed a “mental struggle”.

The Masters champion is therefore on three-under-par overall, in a tie for 56th and on the cut line. But more than half the field still have to complete their second rounds, with a dozen golfers yet to even start when thunderstorms prevented any further play being possible after 1.37pm – ironically exactly the same time as when play was halted on the first day.

Schwartzel does, however, have previous experience of battling around the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club but somehow winning. Last year he was complaining about his swing but still managed to triumph by a whopping four strokes.

“It is a mental struggle when you play like this. It’s pretty easy when things are going your way, but on days like this it becomes a mental battle. I felt I hung in well, I didn’t get down on myself. It would have been easy to lose my temper, but so early in the year, there’s no point. The only way through it is to play, and hopefully I can get into the weekend,” Schwartzel said.

While other major champions have quickly recused themselves from press conferences on days when they have struggled, the ultra-professional Schwartzel was only too happy to front up to the media and explain his struggles. With such impressive character, no wonder he doesn’t buckle under the pressure of being four behind down the closing stretch at Augusta.

The 27-year-old said it was his putting that was proving to be his biggest bugbear.

“It’s always guesswork when you come off a break and competitive golf is always different. But to get straight on to the point, my putting let me down. You’re not going to be doing very well on a course where you should be going for birdies if you have 34 putts. Today I hit 17 greens in regulation but I was just three-under, so it was not my best effort,” Schwartzel said.

The seven-time European Tour winner said it was his putting stroke that was causing him problems.

“In normal competition the greens aren’t so quick as in tournament golf and it feels like I’m hitting everything off-line. I’m not stroking the ball properly and I don’t have that rhythm you get from playing tournament golf week in, week out. And once you hit a few off-line, you start doubting yourself, which makes it worse,” Schwartzel said.

At the moment, Schwartzel is a hefty eight strokes behind leader Robert Rock, but a top-class round like the 61 he shot on Friday last year or the 63 in the first round of the 2010 event will give him a real chance of completing a hat-trick of Joburg Open wins.

“There’s still a long way to go and at least I’m hitting the ball well tee-to-green and giving myself chances. I just need like a 63 to get some momentum going. If I shoot that, I’ll be in with a chance,” Schwartzel said.