DAY 1: Malan half-century gives Dragons hope

Janneman Malan scored a patient half-century as he steered the Renault Potchefstroom North West Dragons to tea with a score of ... in their CSA 4-Day Series match against the DP World Lions at the JB Marks Oval on Thursday.

The Dragons, who won the toss and elected to bat first, showed good patience and application in their approach, resisting the urge to play rash shorts. They had Raynard van Tonder (10*) and Wihan Lubbe (1*) in the middle at the interval.

Malan is more famous for his free-flowing game, in contrast to his older brother, Pieter Malan, who plays for Goldrush Boland. The older Malan digs in and plays a long innings, while the younger Malan enjoys his stroke-making. However, against the Lions, Janneman Malan adopted his brother's circumspect approach.

The 28-year-old patiently constructed his 16th first-class half-century, facing 153 deliveries to get there. His knock helped the home team gain control of the match in the first two sessions of the day. Before lunch, Malan shared a 53-run opening stand with Matthew Kleinveldt. It was succeeded by a 67-run second-wicket partnership between Malan and Lesiba Ngoepe.

Like Kleinveldt, who was dismissed for 32 off 65 balls, Ngoepe also had a start but failed to convert it. The 31-year-old scored 29 off 67. Malan's third partner was Raynard van Tonder. The middle-order batter came into the match on the back of a wonderful unbeaten second innings half-century. Malan and Van Tonder shared a 21-run third-wicket partnership before Malan was dismissed. The opener had scored a good 63 off 184 balls.

Tshepo Moreki was the pick of the bowlers for the Lions with two wickets in the afternoon session. The pacer had two wickets for 23 runs in 11 overs. Codi Yusuf, the sole wicket-taker in the morning session, had a single wicket for 39 runs in 10 overs.

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.