DAY 1: Hamza, Hendricks half centuries power Lions at tea on day one

Half centuries to Zubayr Hamza and captain Dominic Hendricks helped power the DP World Lions into a strong position on 165/2 at tea on day one of their CSA 4-Day series clash against the Momentum Multiply Titans at DP World Wanderers on Tuesday.

It was another solid session for the Lions, as they picked up after lunch on 86/1, with them only losing Hendicks for a well-played 67 off 170 balls (10x4) before tea.

Hamza will resume on 71 off 118 balls (8x4; 2x6), along with Mitchell van Buuren (1no) in the days final session and they will hope to build on their budding 10-run partnership and set their side up for a big first innings total.

After lunch the Lions resumed on 86/1, and moved past the hundred run mark, before Hendricks brought up his half century.

With him playing the anchor role Hamza was fast catching up and reached his fifty as well, before Hendricks finally slipped up, trying to hit spinner Tsepo Ndwandwa over mid-on but only finding fielder Joshua van Heerden.

 That ended a strong second wicket stand of 118-runs, with Hamza and Van Buuren then easing them to tea.

Earlier in the day the Lions enjoyed a steady start to their first innings, after they won the toss and chose to bat first.

Openers Hendricks and Joshua Richards (16) combined for a 37-run opening stand, with Hendricks initially the aggressor, hitting a few early boundaries, but Richards eventually started to open up after a slow start to his innings.

A good tight spell of bowling from Corbin Bosch and Dayyaan Galiem then led to the first wicket, as Bosch worked the short ball well, eventually having Richards fending a ball at his chest down the leg side to be caught by wicketkeeper Rivaldo Moonsamy.

That brought Hamza to the crease, and he took on the main scoring role as Hendricks remained bogged down for a spell.

Both batters then picked up the scoring rate slightly, looking untroubled and in good nick as they headed into the lunch break in a decent position.

DP WORLD LIONS: Dominic Hendricks (capt), Joshua Richards, Zubayr Hamza, Mitchell van Buuren, Khaya Fakuda, Connor Esterhuizen (wk), Delano Potgieter, Bjorn Fortuin, Codi Yusuf, Tshepo Moreki, Lutho Sipamla

MOMENTUM MULTIPLY TITANS: Neil Brand (capt), Rivaldo Moonsamy (wk), Keegan Petersen, Dewald Brevis, Josh van Heerden, Jhedli van Briesies, Dayyaan Galiem, Andile Phehlukwayo, Corbin Bosch, Merrick Brett, Tsepo Ndwandwa