Rilee Rossouw scored a belligerent, unbeaten 120 to push Hampshire to 451 in their County Championship match against Dane Vilas’ Lancashire in Manchester.
He hit 15 fours from the 189 balls he faced and marshalled a lower order to add 236 for the last six wickets. He and the Cape Town-born Gareth Berg, who carries an Italian passport, put on 86 for the eighth wicket, while his Kolpak partner Kyle Abbott contributed 20 to a ninth-wicket stand of 33.
Hampshire’s attack, however, is missing Dale Steyn, who is being rested ahead of the One-Day Cup final against Kent on Saturday. Lancashire closed the day on 140-3.
In Scarborough, Yorkshire’s innings closed on a healthy 337, based on solid contributions from Nos 7-10 against Surrey. They were superbly led by Jon Tattersall, on debut, who scored 70 off 156 balls before falling to Morne Morkel.
Morkel ended with a typically conservative spell of 2-53 off 26, conceding just 2.42, which helped balance out Jade Dernbach, who went for more than four an over while taking four wickets.
In reply, though, Theunis de Bruyn was more successful than in his first match, when he failed to score. On Tuesday, he struck 38 off 80 balls, with three fours, as Surrey’s top order struggled to 219-7. He was next best after Rory Burns’ 45.
Richard Levi made a valuable contribution of 75 off 129 balls, including nine fours, to Northants‘ total of 281 against Glamorgan. In fact, he was one of only three who put up real resistance.
At 36-2, Ricardo Vasconcelos – a former Boland and SA U19 keeper-batsman who played for the CSA Invitation side against Zimbabwe last December – contributed to a third-wicket stand of 69 with Alex Wakeley, running up a solid 56 off 128 balls, with 10 fours. Levi and Wakeley (82) then added 118 for the fourth wicket, but after Levi went at 275-6, the tail collapsed.
It was enough to take a first-innings lead as Glamorgan scraped up 254 on the back of Usman Khawaja’s 103. Northants then smashed 169-0 in 57 overs to end day two 196 ahead.
Heino Kuhn stepped up with a quick fifty as Kent pushed for a commanding position against Middlesex. After Kent had been held to just 241 in their first innings, Middlesex were bowled out for 56 thanks to Grant Stewart – Kent’s burly Western Australian seamer – who took five top-order wickets.
Stewart had taken four wickets in as many games in his first-class career to date when he took the new pink ball; two hours later, he had his maiden five-wicket haul.
Leading by 186, Kent opted to bat again. Kuhn led the way, with eight fours and a six in his 57.
