Honours even between Warriors, Knights

Cape Town - Colin Ackermann and Lesiba Ngoepe hit 71 apiece to leave the Sunfoil Series clash between the Warriors and VKB Knights evenly poised after day one at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth on Thursday.

At stumps in the Eastern Cape, the hosts had reached 292/7 after losing the toss and being asked to bat first.

Right-hander Ackermann, one of the stand-out performers in 2016/17 so far, took his aggregate to the season to 493 runs with his knock, which took 133 balls and included 12 fours.

Left-handed Ngoepe needed 138 balls for his innings, striking 11 fours and a six along the way to ensure the hosts were in a good enough position by the close.

There were also useful contributions from other Warriors batsmen – Gionne Koopman (41), Gihahn Cloete (34) and Somila Seyibokwe (37) – with no one carrying on and going big.

For the visitors, Marchant de Lange once more excelled, sharing all the wickets with Shadley van Schalkwyk. Proteas quick De Lange took his tally for the season to 20 wickets with 3/65, while medium-pacer Van Schalkwyk was the pick of the bowlers with 4/59 in 25 overs.