Day 2: Muthusamy and King put the Warriors in control

Senuran Muthusamy and CJ King were outstanding for the Dafabet Warriors with bat and ball on day two of their CSA 4-Day Series encounter against the Hollywoodbets Dolphins at Dafabet St George's Park on Friday. 

The Warriors were on 42-0 at stumps.

The hosts lead the Dolphins by 98 runs with 10 wickets in hand.

Muthusamy, the Warriors' captain, won the toss, elected to bat first, and shepherded his side to a first-innings score of 264.

The Dolphins ran into an in-form CJ King in their reply and the 20-year-old helped restrict the visitors to 208.

Muthusamy and King's efforts gave the Warriors a 56-run lead into their second innings.

They had Jiveshan Pillay (29*) and Jordan Hermann (12*) at the crease at the close of play.

Muthusamy needed seven runs to record his ninth first-class century when he walked out to bat in the morning.

Renaldo Meyer demonstrated that though he was a proper tailender, he had some batting skill as he stonewalled the Dolphins' bowling attack while buying time for Muthusamy to reach his milestone.

The 31-year-old faced 210 balls to reach the milestone. He remained unbeaten on 106 from 216 deliveries after the innings ended.

KING ON THE BALL

King picked up from where Muthusamy left off with a five-wicket haul to buttress the Warriors' position. 

The 20-year-old ran riot in the morning session, bagging three wickets for 27 runs in seven overs as he disrupted the Dolphins' reply.

Muthusamy threw the ball to him after tea and King added another two wickets to his tally to complete a maiden first-class five-wicket haul.

He finished the innings with five wickets for 61 runs in 15 overs.

The Dolphins' innings was a desultory affair. The visitors were caught in a rebuilding loop from the moment they went out to bat.

They needed someone to play the role Muthusamy had played for the Warriors.

Khaya Zondo seemed to be that person, however, the 35-year-old perished for 46 off 49 balls.

Prenelan Subrayen tried to stitch together partnerships with Daryn Dupavillon and Tristan Luus but that didn't work out well.

The 31-year-old then provided entertainment when Okuhle Cele joined him for the last wicket.

He smashed two sixes and as many fours for the 20 runs he harvested off Jason Raubenheimer's first over.

He had his eyes set on a seventh first-class half-century but was denied by Senuran Muthusamy, who dismissed Cele at the end to leave Subrayen marooned on an unbeaten 49 off 57 balls.