Karabo Mogotsi led from the front hitting a magnificent ton to put SA Emerging in a great position on day one.
The opening batsman hit 155 runs from 258 deliveries to put the South Africa Emerging team well ahead of Sri Lanka on day one of the second four-day match in Pretoria on Sunday.
The hosts got off to a steady start with a 122-run opening stand between Mogotsi and Simon Khomari, who scored 59 runs off 96 before he was bowled out by Akila Dananjaya in the 30th over.
Mogotsi went on to share partnerships a second-wicket partnership of 86 and a third-wicket stand of 67 runs for the with captain, Leus du Plooy (42) and Dayyaan Galiem (30), but his unbeaten fourth-wicket partnership of 130 off 131 balls with former captain Marques Ackerman (90 not out) is what put South Africa Emerging in a strong position at 405-3 going into day two.
Mogotsi was delighted with his performance as he has been aiming to score a century while opening the batting in this series.
‘I think it’s been a good game (for us so far), I felt like it was my day so I decided that I needed to be here at the end of the day,’ he commented. ‘It’s been something that I’ve wanted to do, especially as an opener and it’s good that I’ve achieved it.’
On his plans for day two, he said: ‘The plan for the team is to get 500, that will be the focus for me and I will think about my personal scores after we have gotten the team where it needs to be.’
Mogotsi praised his batting partners, saying that they helped take the pressure off him.
‘Batting with Simon (Khomari) is always fantastic,’ he continued. ‘And with the other guys it’s always easy because they take the pressure off me and I always felt like the game was moving forward. Hopefully tomorrow we can carry on batting like this and end with a good total.’
South Africa Emerging go into day two locked and loaded, and ready to set an unbeatable target.
Photo by Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
