DAY 1: Phangiso gives Knights a chance

Aaron Phangiso scored a brilliant half-century to lead the Knights to a score of 261 on day one of their CSA 4-Day Series match against Goldrush Boland at Boland Park on Thursday.

Boland trail by 261 runs with 10 wickets in hand. The Knights lost their last wicket in the final over of the day.

Forty-year-old Phangiso scored 73 off 98 balls as he led a spirited fightback that put his side in contention.

The half-ton is Phangiso's ninth in first-class cricket. The No 8 batter shared a momentum-shifting 52-run seventh-wicket partnership with Ruan Cronje (23).

When they joined forces, a score of 250 looked distant as the Knights had a score of 129-6 on the board.

A handful of their top-order batters had had a start but failed to kick on. Their opener, Isaac Dikgale. had scored a laboured 40 off 128.

The 29-year-old had watched four partners come and go as he tried to hold the innings together.

Dikgale shared a 47-run third-wicket partnership with Dian Forrester (30) that went some way in stabilising the Knights' innings.

However, it was broken just as it looked as if it might grow into something substantial.

After Forrester's dismissal, Gihahn Cloete (28) came in and tried to push the game forward while Dikgale dropped anchor.

He was dismissed after he had shared a 35-run stand with Dikgale.

Phangiso was able to do what Cloete tried and failed to achieve.

He was positive and attacking from the onset, refusing to be tied down by Boland's spin duo of Siyabonga Mahima and Shaun Von Berg.

The pair had kept things relatively quiet after lunch. Phangiso took a liking to Mahima.

The former Lions and Titans player showed all his experience as he farmed the strike in his 40-run eighth-wicket partnership with Malusi Siboto.

Shaun von Berg was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets for 61 runs in 20.4 overs.

The experienced spinner ensured that the Knights' lower order did not take away the match from the hosts by expertly cleaning up the tail.

His spin partner, Siyabonga Mahima, finished with two wickets for 62 runs in 27 overs.

Glenton Stuurman also bagged a brace for 57 runs in 20 overs.

BOLAND: Clyde Fortuin (capt), Grant Roelofsen, Pieter Malan, Gavin Kaplan, Aviwe Mgijima, Nathan Engelbrecht (wk), Shaun von Berg, Keith Dudgeon, Aya Gqamane, Glenton Stuurman, Siya Mahima.

KNIGHTS:  Isaac Dikgale, Lesego Senokwane (capt), Garnett Tarr, Dian Forrester, Patrick Botha, Gihahn Cloete (wk), Ruan Cronje, Aaron Phangiso, Malusi Siboto, Johannes van Dyk, Sithembile Langa.