DAY 2: Van Tonder century puts Dragons in control

Raynard van Tonder scored a brilliant century to help the Renault Potchefstroom North West Dragons to a score of 425/5d on day two of their CSA 4-Day Series match against the DP World Lions at the JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom, on Friday. At stumps, the Lions were on 77/2.

The Lions trail the Dragons by 348 runs with eight wickets in hand. The Dragons, who won the toss and elected to bat first, have had the best of the first two days of play with the bat. Their mammoth total leaves them in a healthy position where a loss is less probable. At stumps, the Lions had Joshua Richards (40*) and Wiaan Mulder (16*) at the crease.

The Lions struggled to get going, thanks to some good bowling from the Dragons' bowling attack. Ruan de Swardt delivered a brilliant six-over spell that pinned the visitors on the back foot. The allrounder bagged two wickets and conceded six runs in six overs. He dismissed Dominic Hendricks and Zubayr Hamza in the sixth and 10th overs to put the Dragons in control.

Van Tonder was at his best as he worked his way to 120 off 221 deliveries. This is the eighth first-class century for the middle-order batter. The 26-year-old began the second day with an overnight score of 48. He shared a brilliant 149-run fourth-wicket partnership with Wihan Lubbe that took the Dragons close to 300 runs.

This is Van Tonder's maiden first-class century for the Dragons. It is also his first overall since November 2022. The Proteas batter was part of two brilliant partnerships, the first was with his captain, Wihan Lubbe. The pair shared a 149-run fourth-wicket partnership. This is the second time in two innings that they have constructed a substantial partnership for the Dragons. Lubbe chalked his 14th first-class half-century during the course of their partnership. This is also Lubbe's second half-century in consecutive innings.

The other substantial partnership Van Tonder was a part of was his 90-run sixth-wicket stand with Taheer Isaacs. The pair's partnership saw the home side past the 400-run mark. Isaacs had 70 runs in five first-class innings with a high score of 33, coming into the match. Isaacs looked in good form as he registered a new career-best score by registering his maiden first-class half-century. He faced 102 balls to reach the milestone. He finished the match with an unbeaten 59 off 104 deliveries.

Tshepo Moreki was the pick of the bowlers for the Lions with three wickets for 69 runs in 21 overs. Bjorn Fortuin, Junaid Dawood and Codi Yusuf finished with a wicket each.

DRAGONS: Janneman Malan, Matthew Kleinveldt, Lesiba Ngoepe, Raynard van Tonder, Wihan Lubbe (capt), Ruan de Swardt, Taheer Isaacs (wk), Migael Pretorius, Achille Cloete, Odirile Modimokoane, Jaydon Brooker.

DP WORLD LIONS: Joshua Richards, Dominic Hendricks (capt), Zubayr Hamza, Wiaan Mulder, Khaya Fakude, Connor Esterhuizen (wk), Delano Potgieter, Bjorn Fortuin, Codi Yusuf, Tshepo Moreki, Junaid Dawood.