DAY 2: Fortuin's six-wicket haul tilts the game in Lions' favour

football21 March 2025 17:17| © MWP
By:CS Chiwanza
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Bjorn Fortuin © Gallo Images

Bjorn Fortuin bagged his eighth First-Class five-wicket haul as he helped tilt the CSA 4-Day Series encounter between Goldrush Boland and the DP World Lions at Boland Park in the visitors' favour. At stumps, the Lions were on 42/1.

The visitors trail Boland by 187 runs with nine wickets in hand. They had Joshua Richards (14*) and Zubayr Hamza (6*) at the crease. They joined forces after Dominic Hendricks' dismissal. Hendricks, the Lions captain, had shared a 33-run opening stand with Richards when his innings was ended by Siya Mahima.

Inclement weather constantly disrupted the match. An extended rain delay meant that the teams left the field before lunch, returned after tea, and were then forced off the park due to bad light.

Earlier in the day, Bjorn Fortuin bowled brilliantly to deny the home side a total closer to 250. The Lions tweaker picked up from where he left off on day one. He added two more wickets as he spun his way to an eighth First-Class five-wicket haul. His final wicket was the dismissal of Siya Mahima in the afternoon session. The scalp took his First-Class tally to 200 wickets.

Junaid Dawood and Nqaba Peter were the other wicket-takers for the Lions in Boland's first innings. They each bagged a brace of wickets. Peter finished with two wickets for 38 runs in 14 overs, while Dawood took two wickets for 41 runs in 10 overs.

Clyde Reeves-Fortuin played a captain's knock to ensure that Boland were not bowled out for less than 200 runs. The Boland captain soldiered for his 61 off 154 balls. This is his 19th First-Class half-century. He faced 117 deliveries to reach the milestone. The home side folded after his dismissal.

Pieter Malan (45) and Gavin Kaplan (31) were the other notable contributors to Boland's cause in the first innings. Their scores came on day one.


BOLAND: Grant Roelofsen, Pieter Malan, Gavin Kaplan, Aviwe Mgijima, Michael Copeland, Clyde Reeves-Fortuin (wk)(capt), Shaun von Berg, Keith Dudgeon, Glenton Stuurman, Siya Mahima, Aphiwe Mnyaka

LIONS: Joshua Richards, Dominic Hendricks (capt), Zubayr Hamza, Mitch van Buuren, Connor Esterhuizen (wk), Wandile Makwetu, Delano Potgieter, Bjorn Fortuin, Lutho Sipamla, Nqaba Peter, Junaid Dawood