Day 2: Senokwane stands up to Dragons' attack

Lesego Senokwane was in fine form, scoring an unbeaten century, as he steered the Knights to 244/8 on day two of their CSA 4-Day Series match against the Renault Potchefstroom North West Dragons at the Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein, on Friday.

The Dragons registered a first innings total of 232/9d in their first innings. At stumps, which was pushed forward because of bad light, the Knights had Senokwane (135*) and Malusi Siboto (13*) at the crease.

Senokwane's century is his sixth in first-class cricket. He faced 193 balls to reach the 100-run mark. The top-order batter fought a lone battle to keep his side in the contest.

The Knights opener held up one end while wickets tumbled at the other end. Senokwane shared the crease with eight different partners, none of whom was able to build a substantial partnership with him. The three highest partnerships Senokwane shared were with Patrick Botha, Aaron Phangiso and Malusi Siboto. He added 48 runs with Botha, 86 with Phangiso and an unbroken 47 with Siboto, whom he was with when bad light stopped play.

None of the other nine Knights batters who have taken to the middle has reached 40 runs. Phangiso, who smashed a free-flowing 73 last week at Boland Park, proved once again that his batting is not too bad. The 40-year-old scored a good 38 off 68. Isaac Dikgale (13), Botha (11) and Siboto (13*) were the other batters who reached double figures.

Migael Pretorius led the Dragons' bowling attack with aplomb. The seamer gave his side the ideal start to the day with two quick wickets in the morning session. He later grabbed a third in the afternoon to finish the day with three wickets for 48 runs in 18 overs. Kerwin Mungroo and Odirile Modimokoane bagged a brace of wickets each, while Ruan de Swardt took a single wicket.

KNIGHTS: Isaac Dikgale, Lesego Senokwane, Garnett Tarr, Dian Forrester, Gihahn Cloete (wk), Patrick Botha, Matthew Pollard, Aaron Phangiso, Dane Piedt (capt), Malusi Siboto, Johannes van Dyk.

DRAGONS: Matthew Kleinveldt, Rubin Hermann, Lesiba Ngoepe, Raynard van Tonder, Wihan Lubbe (capt), Ruan de Swardt, Meeka-eel Prince (wk), Migael Pretorius, Kerwin Mungroo, Achille Cloete, Odirile Modimokoane