Day 3: Rain washes out the first two sessions at Boland Park

Persistent rain prevented play in the first two sessions on the third day of the CSA 4-Day Series encounter between Goldrush Boland and the DP World Lions at Boland Park on Saturday. The two teams had not taken to the field when the tea break was announced.

The Lions were on 42 for one when the showers stopped play on day two. The visitors were replying to Boland's first innings total of 229. The Lions trail Boland by 187 runs with nine wickets in hand.

The Lions had Joshua Richards (14*) and Zubayr Hamza (6*) at the crease. They joined forces after Dominic Hendricks' dismissal. Hendricks, the Lions captain, shared a 33-run opening stand with Richards when his innings were ended by Siya Mahima.

Inclement weather has constantly disrupted the match. On day one, teams left the field twice, first because of rain and then bad weather later in the day. Day two saw little action following an extended spell of rain from the morning until after the tea break. Then the teams left the park due to bad light.

Bjorn Fortuin bowled brilliantly to deny the home side a total closer to 250 on Friday morning. The Lions spinner picked up from where he left off on the first day. He added two more wickets to his tally, raising it to six. This is his 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