DAY 1: Malan holds firm as Dragons enjoy a steady start

The Renault Potchefstroom North West Dragons proceeded with caution in the first session of their CSA 4-Day Series match against the DP World Lions at the JB Marks Oval to get to lunch with minimal damage. The Dragons were on 75/1 at the break.

The hosts won the toss, elected to bat first and navigated the first session well. They had Malan (30*) and Lesiba Ngoepe (10*) at the crease at the interval.

The home side opened with Janneman Malan and Matthew Kleinveldt. The Malan-Kleinveldt partnership replaced the home side's opening pair of Kleinveldt and Rubin Hermann from their last match. The duo's left-right combination proved impervious to the Lions' attack until the last 30 minutes of the morning session. They weathered the storm of the Lions' bowling attack.

The visitors threw everything at them, with Dominic Hendricks deploying five bowlers in the morning session. The visitors eventually got a breakthrough when Kleinveldt mistimed a pull shot off a Codi Yusuf delivery and sent it to Junaid Dawood stationed at mid-wicket. Kleinveldt fell after scoring a well-paced 65-ball 32. Malan and Kleinveldt had shared a 53-run opening stand.

The last time Malan opened for the Dragons he returned eight runs in two innings against the Dafabet Warriors. The Proteas star displayed patience as he batted his way to an unbeaten 99-ball 30. At the break, he had shared an unbroken 22-run second-wicket partnership with Ngoepe.

Codi Yusuf was the most successful bowler for the Lions in the session with one wicket for 29 runs in seven overs. Wiaan Mulder and Bjorn Fortuin gave good accounts of themselves by not giving away too many runs. Mulder conceded 11 runs in six overs, while Fortuin conceded 12 in six.

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.