DAY 1 WRAP: Honours even in Gqeberha, Vallie ton puts Tuskers on top

Twenty one wickets fell on an eventful day as the CSA 4-Day Series as Western Province ended day one 49/1 in their clash against the Dafabet Warriors at St George’s Park on Wednesday.

When stumps were drawn, WP had Tony de Zorzi (15 runs from 50 balls) and Yaseen Vallie (28 from 47) unbeaten at the crease with their partnership on 44 runs and a second innings lead of 79 runs after the early loss of Daniel Smith (5) at the hands of Beyers Swanepoel.

Earlier, WP seamer Wesley Bedja wreaked havoc with the ball as he claimed 5-19 in five overs to help dismiss the home side for a measly 111 in 31 overs, to leave them trailing the WP first innings total by 30 runs.

Bedja took the last five wickets, removing Tristan Stubbs (12), Swanepoel (6), while Renaldo Meyer, Siya Simetu and Alfred Mothoa fell without scoring as 20 wickets fell in just over two sessions.

Wesley Bedja 5/19🔥🔥🙌#WPcricket #westernprovince #WozaNawe #BoysInBlue💙 #4Day pic.twitter.com/A6TrlhX1ok

— Western Province Men (@WP_Blitz) February 14, 2024

Mthiwekhaya Nabe chipped in with the wickets of Matthew Breetzke (34) and Sinethemba Qeshile (3) to finish with figures of 2-18 from six overs, while George Linde, Onke Nyaku and Beuran Hendricks returned figures of 1-14, 1-21 and 1-37 respectively.

Earlier in the day, Mothoa picked up four wickets while Meyer claimed three as the visitors were bundled out for 141 inside 43 overs.

Meyer ran riot in the morning session, claiming three wickets while Mothoa took two as the travelers sat precariously on 105/6 at the lunch break.

Meyer claimed the wickets of Smith (2), Kyle Verreynne (14) and Onke Nyaku for a duck while Mothoa dismissed Vallie (2) and Gavin Kaplan (45) to head to lunch with their tails up.

After the lunch break, Mothoa and Swanepoel then combined to claim the last four wickets for the addition of 36 runs.

Swanepoel dismissed Linde (25) and Kyle Simmonds (12) while Mothoa removed Bedja and Nabe without scoring to have them all out halfway through the afternoon session.

Mothoa finished with 4-32 from 8.4 overs as Meyer, who left the field with an apparent injury, and Swanepoel, claimed 3-29 and 2-41 respectively.

DAFABET WARRIORS: Jiveshan Pillay, Jordan Hermann, Sinethemba Qeshile, Matthew Breetzke [C], Tristan Stubbs, Rudi Second, Patrick Kruger, Beyers Swanepoel, Renaldo Meyer, Siya Simetu, Alfred Mothoa.

WESTERN PROVINCE: TONY de Zorzi, Daniel Smith, Yaseen Vallie, Gavin Kaplan, Kyle Verreynne [C], George Linde, Onke Nyaku, Kyle Simmonds, Beuran Hendricks, Wesley Bedja, Mthiwekhaya Nabe.

VALLIE SHINES AS TUSKERS CLAIM DAY ONE

Yaseen Vallie was in sensational form as he struck an unbeaten century to lead the AET Tuskers to a total of 246 for four on day one of their CSA 4-day Challenge match against the Multiply Titans at the Pietermaritzburg Oval, Pietermaritzburg, on Wednesday.

Vallie, who took to the crease after his captain won the toss and chose to bat first, made a triumphant return to the Tuskers first XI in red ball cricket.

The opener, who is featuring in his first 4-Day match of the season showed patience and application as he batted his way to a seventh first-class century.

He creamed 18 fours on his way to an unbeaten 122 off 300 deliveries.

At stumps, Vallie was in the company of Malcolm Nofal. The allrounder had scored 29 off 82 balls.

Vallie stood strong despite losing partners at regular intervals through the day. In the morning session, the 28-year-old shared a 58-run opening stand with Ben Compton (34) that provided a solid platform for the home side.

That partnership was broken when the Englishman, after enduring low-scoring overs from the disciplined Titans attack, went for a sweep shot to release the pressure.

He top-edged the delivery by debutant Schalk Engelbrecht for Rivaldo Moonsamy to take a relatively easy catch.

FERREIRA THE TITANS' BEST BOWLER

His next partner, Cameron Shekleton, also go a start, but like Compton, failed to kick on.

Vallie and Shekleton batted to lunch and close to tea, constructing a useful 97-run partnership that saw the Tuskers past the 155-run mark.

The Vallie-Shekleton partnership was broken when Dewald Brevis trapped Shekleton lbw in the 65th over.

The Titans turned things around to get a foothold in the match with two early strikes in the post-tea session.

The first wicket to fall in the third period was Michael Erlank's. The Tuskers captain tried to take a quick single off Donovan Ferreira's bowling but was caught short of his ground.

5.4 overs and 16 runs later, the Titans took their fourth wicket when Kagiso Rapulana was caught by Rivaldo Moonsamy off Ferreira's bowling.

Donovan Ferreira was the Titans' best bowler on day one. The 25-year-old allrounder took a single wicket for 45 runs in 25 overs.

His economy of 1.8 runs an over was better than that of Dewald Brevis and Schalk Engelbrecht, who also took a wicket each.

The spinners conceded runs at 2.75 and two runs an over respectively.

TUSKERS: Ben Compton, Yaseen Valli, Michael Erlank, Kagiso Rapulana, Malcolm Nofal, Alindile Mhletywa, Keith Dudgeon, Cameron Shekleton, Smangaliso Nhlebela, Ntando Zuma, Jared Meiring

TITANS: Joshua van Heerden, Matthew Kleinveldt, Musa Twala, Dewald Brevis, Sibonelo Makhanya (c), Donovan Ferreira, Rivaldo Moonsamy (wk), Corbin Bosch, Dayyaan Galiem, Aya Gqamane, Schalk Engelbrecht