Ashwell makes perfect start
Ashwell Prince made the perfect start to his stand-in career as an opening batsman when he hit an unbeaten 150 on the first day of the SuperSport Series match on Thursday between the Chevrolet Warriors and the Nashua Titans at SuperSport Park.
Playing against a good quality attack that included the Morkel brothers and Paul Harris, the left-hander made a quiet start on his way to his 23rd first-class century but, once he warmed to his task, he took over as the rest of the Warriors' top order batted around him.
By the close the Warriors had put a commanding 338/4 on the board with Prince unbeaten on 171 (253 balls, 18 fours) and his Proteas' team mate, Mark Boucher (43 not out off 72 balls, 8 fours), having contributed to an unbroken partnership of 64 for the fifth wicket.
Morkel picked up one wicket and Harris two but it was a quiet day for most of the Proteas around the country with Neil McKenzie being dismissed for four and JP Duminy without scoring in their respective matches.
Ryan Canning and fit again Henry Davids turned the Nashua Cape Cobras innings around on the first day of their match against the Nashua Dolphins at the Maritzburg Oval. After winning the toss the Cobras collapsed to a miserable 122/6 with Yusuf Abdulla, who has been called up for the Proteas Standard Bank Pro20 squad, taking three wickets. The run out of Andrew Puttick did not help either.
But then Davids (71 not out off 142 balls with six fours) and Canning (51 not out off 146 balls with four fours) added an unbroken 105 for the seventh wicket to give the Cobras a respectable 227/6 by the close of a day reduced to 80 overs.
Having scored a century in the previous match, Canning is certainly staking his credentials as one of the emerging wicketkeeper-batsmen in the country.
The Gestetner Diamond Eagles made a substantial inroad into the Titans' lead at the top of the log when they dismissed the bizhub Highveld Lions for 160 runs at the Liberty Life Wanderers Stadium in only 71.4 overs.
The Lions were at one stage 7/100 before there was a more modest recovery in this match as well from Aaron Phangiso (39 not out off 72 balls) and Friedel de Wet (20 off 47 balls).
The Diamond Eagles started their reply at a good rate even though they lost two important wickets in Dean Elgar and Rilee Rossouw to be 66/2 at the close.
